The fires are still raging in Los Angeles County, but once contained and extinguished, this fiasco will be investigated. These fires are likely to be the costliest natural disaster in American history.
The cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the scrubbing of LAFD memos pointing to deficiencies in the department, and the lack of water have all been documented, especially for the Palisades blaze. Independent reporter Michael Shellenberger has tracked the behind-the-scenes fiasco that led to this catastrophe.
For the Palisades blaze, it took LAFD almost an hour to respond. And yes, while the cuts to the LAFD proved damaging, its chief, Kristin Crowley, also geared her department toward training that had little to do with fighting fires.
In short, people want firefighters to save their homes—they don’t care if a black lesbian does it. The DEI nonsense played a significant role in the LAFD’s degraded and shambolic response to these wildfires, which whistleblowers can attest. The cost of these woke initiatives is also immense, and resupply can become a byzantine journey as LA will only work with pro-DEI vendors. A few of them reached out to Shellenberger to vent about the current state of the department:
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