The California wildfires earlier this year have awakened many people in the state, right up to the top priorities of current leadership. When the fire broke out, the mayor of Los Angeles was not even within the country at the time, so instead chose to attend an event in Africa.
Now we are learning that states are spending more on homeless people starting a third of the state’s fires than firers.
California spends a lot of money on growing homelessness issues, so there are no consequences. This is a US lawyer investigating spending.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend more money on firefighters?
KABC 7 in California Report:
Almost a third of LA fires in the past six years have been linked to homeless people, new report show
Seven research teams on your side have reported in the past that Los Angeles Fire Department response times have not always met national standards.
A new memo from now interim LAFD chief Ronnieva says a surge in calls to further show how tightly the homeless are tying the department is further tied up for resources.
The memos that were supposed to be discussed at Tuesday’s LAFD committee meeting are filled with numbers.
In fiscal year 2024/2025, the city allocated about $961 million to the homeless, but the total LAFD budget for the same fiscal year was below, at around $837 million.
The firefighter union president calls it shocking.
“We don’t want to criminalize homelessness, but we need strictly additional resources for homelessness,” said Freddie Escobar, president of United Firefighters in Los Angeles. “We need more funds.”
See the related video reports below.
33% of fires in Los Angeles over the past six years have been started by homeless people. Now, consider the $2 billion that has led to LA homeless services that cannot be explained while LAFD is cutting its budget. @RickCarusola @stevehiltonx @thekevindaltonpic.twitter.com/rdplkvt18j
– T Wolf (@twolfrecovery) April 16, 2025
Meanwhile, California Gov. Gavin Newsom is focused on hosting podcasts. Why do California taxpayers hold back on this?
