LA Mayor Karen Bass cut fire department funding by $17.6M, focused on homeless spending— months before wildfires turned city into hellscape
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass faced scorching criticism Wednesday as it was revealed she cut the city’s fire department budget by $17.6 million ahead of this week’s devastating fires — as she prioritized funds for its massive homeless population that largely went unspent, according to a report.
The cut was the second-largest in Bass’ 2024-25 fiscal budget, city figures show — and it wasn’t even the gutting she wanted.
If she’d had it her way, the LAFD budget would have been slashed by $23 million.
LA budgeted $837 million for the Bravest in fiscal year 2023-2024 — which was shockingly 65% of the $1.3 billion slated for the homeless, according to Fox News.
A city comptroller study found that nearly half of that funding went unused, according to the outlet.
Her budget cuts resurfaced as the LAFD issued a rare plea asking off-duty firefighters to join the battle against three massive wildfires burning across the city, which were kicked up Tuesday by 100-mph Santa Ana winds and have proceeded to grow by the hour.
At least 70,000 people have been ordered to evacuate from their homes as the fire has become the most destructive in the city’s history within just a day.
“It’s all about leadership management, that we’re seeing a failure of, and all these residents are paying the ultimate price for that,” said Rick Caruso, an LA developer who lost the city’s 2022 mayoral race to Bass.
The fact that Bass was in Ghana when the flames broke out added further fuel to the backlash.
Amid reports that LA fire hydrants have run dry as firefighters battle the flames, Caruso said Bass was directly to blame — and called her out for being literally absent as the city burned.
“I think you should start asking … Why don’t you call the mayor, who is out of the country, and ask her? Get an answer from her,” he told Fox LA.
As the flames kicked up Tuesday and exploded overnight into Wednesday, Bass was 7,400 miles away in Ghana, where she was celebrating the inauguration of President John Dramani Mahama.
“Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is on a taxpayer-funded trip to Africa as part of a Biden administration presidential delegation WHILE HER CITY IS BURNING TO THE GROUND,” wrote America First Works president Ashley Hayek on X.
Stay up to date with the NYP’s coverage of the terrifying LA-area fires
- A timeline of the LA Fires — from early weather warnings to rampant blazes
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- Trump anticipates rising death toll in LA wildfires: ‘We’re gonna find many bodies and many more, many more dead’
- Recall effort against Newsom underway in California following alleged mishandling of LA fires
- Follow along with The Post’s live coverage of the LA wildfires
“This is INSANE,” she said.
Elon Musk, who has been serving as an adviser and confidant to President-elect Donald Trump, even chimed in and called Bass “utterly incompetent.”
Bass finally returned Wednesday to Los Angeles, where she met with California Gov. Gavin Newsom amid the torched rubble as flames still burned uncontained across the city.
As her plane touched down, Bass refused to respond when a Sky News reporter asked if she regretted cutting the fire department budget, traveling to Ghana, or whether she had any words of apology to the citizens of Los Angeles.
“Madam Mayor, have you absolutely nothing to say to the citizens today who are dealing with this disaster?” reporter David Blevins, standing feet away, repeatedly asked Bass as she looked blankly ahead.
And some Angelenos are waiting for answers.
“We have questions. I know where I am, but I don’t know where my mayor was when this was happening,” one furious resident who was forced to evacuate her home told Fox News.
“I’m born and raised in Los Angeles, I spend my life worrying about when the earthquakes come, when the Santa Ana winds come. I plan my trips around this. For someone to be in charge of my town … where were you?” the woman asked.
At least five people have been killed and more than 1,000 buildings destroyed across the three fires.
The Pacific Palisades Fire, burning in the northwest corner of LA, is over 15,000 acres (23.4 square miles). The Eaton Fire, to the northeast, is over 10,000 acres (15.6 square miles) after starting the day at around 2,000. The Hurst Fire, north of the city, is around 500 acres.
