The president of Los Angeles United Firefighters broke down in tears on live television as he blamed the department’s lack of funding for their limited response to the catastrophic LA fires.
Freddy Escobar, a 35-year veteran of the LA Fire Department, said he had warned for “years” that a disaster like this could happen, and blamed money for their dated response.
Escobar told it CNN: ‘This is a woefully understaffed fire department. Either we get a fire department that reflects the year 2025, or we get a fire department that reflects the 1960s.’
There are millions of dollars worth of rescue equipment sitting unused because firefighters can’t afford to repair it, the outlet reported.
“It’s terrible, someone is going to die,” journalist Kyung Lah recalled Escobar saying during a committee meeting a month ago.
Escober said hearing the words again was “creepy because that’s what happened,” before bursting into tears.
“So it’s… let me take a moment, sorry,” he said. You’re not supposed to make me cry.”
Escobar said the department’s underfunding and understaffing would ultimately cost LA residents the highest price.
Freddy Escobar, 35-year veteran of the LA Fire Department, said he had warned for “years” that a disaster like this could happen, and blamed money for their dated response
Escobar said the department’s underfunding and understaffing would ultimately cost LA residents the highest price
“The people of Los Angeles deserve a fully staffed, top-notch fire department. Our firefighters will continue to do our part. It is time for city leaders to do their part,” Escobar said
“If we eliminate one position, if we close one station, if we close one resource, the people of Los Angeles will make the ultimate sacrifice and someone will die,” he said in a video clip of an LA Fire Commission meeting as The city is being urged to reconsider the budget.
“These cuts came at exactly the wrong time,” Chuong Ho of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles said at the same meeting. “With demand for services at an all-time high and our firefighters at their breaking point.”
City Councilmember Traci Park added, “We are pushing our departments’ resources to the limit, and we cannot continue down this path.”
Park later told Lan that there were “no emergency response resources available” in large parts of the city.
Los Angeles ranks ninth among the nation’s ten largest cities in the number of firefighters per resident.
Park said: “People are rightly upset, not only because this has happened, but there is also a sense that we as local leaders needed to do more for them. I feel like I let them down, and I’ve been yelling about it since the day I walked in the door.”
“I think this should be the wake-up call.”
Last May, Escobar told the city at a budget hearing, “We don’t have enough firefighters and medics, we don’t have enough fire engines, we don’t have enough trucks and ambulances in the field.”
“If we eliminate one position, if we close one station, if we close one resource, the people of Los Angeles will make the ultimate sacrifice and someone will die,” Escobar said in a video clip of an LA Fire Commission meeting while The city is being urged to reconsider the budget
The bruised and battered city of Los Angeles remains on high alert as the extreme weather events that sparked apocalyptic infernos intensify once again
He added, “We don’t have the equipment and personnel we need to respond to half a million emergency calls for service every year.”
“The LAFD has fewer firefighters and medics today than it did fifteen years ago, but our calls for assistance have increased by more than 50% in that same time,” Escobar testified.
Fellow captain and union leader Chuong Ho added at the same meeting: “It just doesn’t make sense to have multi-million dollar fire trucks and engines retired and taken out of service because we don’t have enough mechanics to keep them running.” keep.’
It was revealed that the fire service had recently requested almost $100 million to replace its entire fleet, just two months before the bushfires.
In a preliminary 2025/26 budget request signed by Fire Chief Kristin Rowley filed Oct. 29, the LAFD requested $96,535,000 to fund a “fleet replacement plan.”
The fire department said in its request to the city, “Many vehicles have exceeded their expected lifespan, leading to increased maintenance costs, reduced parts availability and potential downtime.”
And in her formal proposal to the city in November, she requested $24,063,000 for “new fleet/equipment purchases.”
In the preliminary budget request, the LAFD also requested more than $1.9 million to restore 16 maintenance positions that were “removed” from last year’s budget.
Captain and union leader Chuong Ho added at the same meeting: “It simply doesn’t make sense to have multi-million dollar fire trucks and engines retired and taken out of service because we don’t have enough mechanics to keep them running.”
The infernos consuming Los Angeles have so far killed at least 24 people and displaced more than 200,000, and critics have excoriated the city’s leadership for their decision to cut the LAFD’s already shrinking budget .
The fire brigade is still working to get the major fires under control. They have destroyed more than 40,000 hectares of land, destroyed an estimated 12,300 structures and killed at least 24 people
His request stated: “The functions support fleet maintenance, equipment engineering, purchasing and warehouse management and distribution.”
The LAFD also requested $3.1 million to replace body armor worn by “60% of sworn members.”
Karen Bass will present the city budget in April.
While the fire department’s budget grew steadily from $674.27 million in 2019 to $819.64 million in 2025, it faced a significant decline this year from $837.19 million in 2024.
In a December memo, Rowley said the $17.6 million cut “negatively impacted the department’s ability to maintain core activities such as technology and communications infrastructure, payroll processing, training, fire prevention and community education.” ‘
The memo also pointed to a $7 million reduction in overtime.
A leaked memo last week revealed that Karen Bass had demanded that the LAFD make an additional $49 million in cuts, on top of the $17.6 million cut.
The additional cuts, requested just days before fires broke out and destroyed parts of Los Angeles, would have closed 16 fire stations and crippled the department’s ability to respond to emergencies, sources previously told DailyMail.com.
“We don’t have the equipment and personnel we need to respond to half a million emergency calls for service every year,” Escobar said.
The Palisades Fire — the largest of three fires sweeping through Los Angeles — that ignited on Jan. 7 has scorched 23,713 acres
The infernos consuming Los Angeles have so far killed at least 24 people and displaced more than 200,000, and critics have excoriated the city’s leadership for their decision to cut the LAFD’s already shrinking budget .
But last week, LA Mayor Karen Bass denied that the cuts she was making had any impact on the fire service’s ability to tackle the ongoing wildfires.
“If you look back at the cuts that have been made, I don’t think there were any cuts that would have had an impact on the situation we’ve been dealing with in recent days,” she said.
Escobar, however, disagreed, writing in an op-ed for USA Today, “We can and will weather these devastating fires and begin the recovery process immediately.” As part of this recovery, Los Angeles will have to make consistent decisions.
“Will we finally invest in our fire department, build the firehouses and hire the firefighters we need to protect Los Angeles? Can and will we build the fire services we need as we move towards the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games and as we face the daily public safety challenges that our residents bring?
“The people of Los Angeles deserve a fully staffed, top-notch fire department. Our firefighters will continue to do our part. It’s time for city leaders to do their part.”