Stunning footage shows about a hundred fire trucks standing idly in a Los Angeles repair yard as fires ravage the city.
The photos, taken by a local activist, show dozens of essential firefighting vehicles on the grounds of the LA Fire Department’s Bureau Of Supply and Maintenance at 19 North Avenue in the city’s northeast.
LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said in an interview with CNN, “We have over 100 fire apparatus out of service. Having these devices and the right amount of mechanics would have helped.”
The LAFD has a total of 183 trucks, meaning more than half of the city’s fire engines are out of service as fires continue to burn through dense urban areas, killing at least 24, displacing more than 200,000 people and more than 12,000 buildings are destroyed.
It comes just three months after the LAFD submitted a request to the City Council to replace the entire fleet at a cost of $96.5 million.
The LAFD said in its request, “Many vehicles have exceeded their expected service life, leading to increased maintenance costs, reduced parts availability and potential downtime.”
The fire department has also requested more than $1.9 million to restore 16 maintenance positions that were “eliminated” in last year’s budget.
His request stated: “The functions support fleet maintenance, equipment engineering, purchasing and warehouse management and distribution.”
The footage, taken by a local activist, shows dozens of essential firefighting vehicles on the grounds of the LA Fire Department’s Bureau Of Supply and Maintenance.
LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said in an interview with CNN, “We have over 100 fire apparatus out of service. Having these devices and the right amount of mechanics would have helped’
A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire as it burns a building in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 7
The positions in demand include a truck driver, a tire repairman, four heavy equipment mechanics, nine mechanical helpers, a carpenter, a general automotive supervisor, two administrative clerks and a shopkeeper.
LA’s Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “Over the past three years, it has become clear to us that the fire department needs help.”
She added that she has highlighted how “understaffed, under-resourced and under-funded the LAFD is,” adding, “I have sounded the alarm that these additional cuts could be very devastating to our ability to meet the to provide public safety.”
The fires that started north of downtown LA on Tuesday have burned more than 12,000 homes, cars and other buildings.
Authorities have not determined an official cause for any of the fires.
Additional water tankers and dozens of firefighters have arrived in the Los Angeles area ahead of heavy winds that were expected to return and threaten progress made so far in the fight against the infernos.
On Monday, planes showered homes and hillsides with bright pink fire-retardant chemicals, while crews and fire trucks were stationed with dry brush near particularly vulnerable spots.
Dozens of water trucks came in to replenish supplies after fire hydrants ran dry when the two largest fires broke out last week.
The LAFD has a total of 183 trucks, meaning more than half of the city’s fire trucks are out of service
As the death toll rose to 24 in recent days, officials warned that figure is expected to rise as crews struggle to access the smoldering wreckage of entire neighborhoods.
Firefighters in the affected Palisades area are overwhelmed by the fast-spreading fires as the state’s response is closely watched
Bass and other officials — who faced criticism for their initial response to the fires that started last week — expressed confidence Monday that the region was ready to meet the new threat with additional firefighters from across the U.S., as well as Canada and Mexico.
“We’re definitely better prepared,” said LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone, when asked what will be different from a week ago, when hurricane winds pushed multiple fires through the parched, brush-filled area that hasn’t seen fires in recent years. rain has fallen. more than eight months.
Since January 1, there have been more than a dozen wildfires in Southern California, mostly in the Los Angeles area.
The latest started late Monday in a dry riverbed in Oxnard, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles, and burned in a farm field.
According to the National Weather Service, winds are expected to increase beginning early Tuesday and continue until Wednesday afternoon.
They are not expected to reach hurricane force as they did last week, but they could ground firefighting planes, Marrone said, warning that if winds reach 70 mph (112 kph), “it will be very difficult to to keep that fire under control.”
Fire officials advised residents in high-risk areas to simply leave their homes — and not wait for formal evacuation orders — if they sense danger.
In less than a week, four fires around the nation’s second-largest city have burned more than 100 square miles, about three times the size of Manhattan.
This month, multiple fires in Los Angeles have killed at least 24 people and burned down 12,000 buildings
A Pacific Palisades resident surveys the damage to his neighborhood after it was destroyed by fires this past week
The National Weather Service warned that the weather will be “particularly dangerous” on Tuesday, when wind gusts could reach 65 mph. Much of Southern California around Los Angeles is under this extreme fire danger warning through Wednesday, including heavily populated Thousand Oaks, Northridge and Simi Valley.
The Eaton fire near Pasadena is about one-third contained, while the largest fire in coastal Pacific Palisades is much less contained.
The death toll is likely to rise, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said Monday. At least two dozen were missing, he said.
Luna said he understands people are eager to return to their homes and neighborhoods to inspect the damage, but he asked for their patience. “There are people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors,” he said.
At a community meeting Monday night about the Palisades Fire, a Los Angeles Police Department official said many people reported missing had been found. It was not clear if there was any overlap in the numbers shared by the sheriff.