LOS ANGELES, CA — One year after the Los Angeles Fire Department was beaten back from containing a wind-fueled wildfire that wiped out a massive swath of Pacific Palisades, the union representing firefighters who were hindered by hydrants that were tapped dry and a limited number of first responders backing them up is asking Angelenos to pass a sales tax boost earmarked specifically for the LAFD.
The department, which is also being criticized for command staff decisions that allowed an arsonist’s blaze started in the early morning of New Year’s Day to smolder for a week, reigniting into a ferocious and deadly firestorm that became the Palisades fire, is at the lowest staffing levels since the 1960s and outdated equipment is making their jobs harder, the union representing firefighters said at a press conference Thursday morning at Fire Station 58 on Robertson Boulevard.