Did DEI Cripple the LA Fire Department's Response to Wildfires? Here's What We Know
Even though Democrats are willing to blame climate change for the California wildfires absent any evidence of it being a global warming issue, they’re particularly sensitive to “play[ing] any politics” with the response of state and local authorities before and during the blaze, particularly as it pertains to DEI concerns.
However, this is problematic in one critical way: While America should wish to be sensitive to the concerns of those in southern California before scoring sociopolitical points, it should also wish this to never happen again. The loss of life, property, and money is incalculable as the fire enters its second week, and things are only going to get worse.
Thus, given the critical nature of fixing the problems that led to the anemic response, it’s worth asking: Did DEI cripple the Los Angeles Fire Department’s response to the wildfires?
What we know so far seems to point to yes.
First, it’s worth taking a look at Mayor Karen Bass’ concerns. Bass was already under fire for skipping town for a junket to Ghana before the Santa Ana winds — predicted to be high before her trip — kicked up.
Bass shut up upon her return — and she had every reason to.
‘Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent whilst their homes were burning? Do you regret cutting the fire department’s budget?
@skydavidblevins questions the mayor of LA, Karen Bass, as she faces backlash regarding the California wildfires.https://t.co/Nkz8onjC7V pic.twitter.com/WwRwp6Imqz— Sky News (@SkyNews) January 8, 2025
Bass, who cut the fire department’s budget by over $17 million last year — and tried to slash almost $49 million one day before the fires, despite protests from the LAFD that the city was dangerously unprepared for a disaster — spent that money in appalling places that no one in their right mind should be funding.
For instance, take the “Midnight Stroll Transgender Cafe,” which received a $100,000 slush fund from the City Council at Bass’ urging. It was meant to “support a safe haven for unsheltered transgender individuals in Hollywood between the hours of 9:00 pm and 7:00 am.”
Then there was the Ebony Repertory Theatre, which aimed to “provide a permanent home for artists of color that enables those artists to explore, experience and present a wide-ranging variety of programs that reflect the significant canon of African-American literary, artistic and cultural achievements.”
It received $8,230.
Also in the $8,000 Club was the ONE Archives Foundation, which maintains what’s claimed to be the world’s largest repository of “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer” materials at the University of Southern California, which recently hosted an exhibit called “Sci-fi, Magick, Queer L.A.: Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation.”
“Sexual Science and the Imagi-Nation considers the importance of science fiction fandom and occult interests to U.S. LGBTQ history,” an event description read. “Science fiction and occult communities helped pave the way for the LGBTQ movement by providing a place for individuals to meet and imagine spaces less restricted by societal norms.”
One wonders why USC couldn’t cut a check, but why bother when the City of Los Angeles was willing to earmark $8,670 for it?
This goes beyond the nickels and dimes that added up to wastefulness in Los Angeles’ budget as a general rule. It also bled into the LAFD, unsurprisingly.
An LAFD chart showing “Racial Equity Staff Breakdown and Metrics” went viral after it was leaked online in the wake of the blazes, with the Libs of TikTok account noting it was “a chart to map out the race of every employee to make sure they’re racially diverse enough.”
The LA Fire Dept passed a “racial equity plan” to end “systemic, institutional, and structural racism” in LA. Part of it is a chart to map out the race of every employee to make sure they’re racially diverse enough pic.twitter.com/WDJhZbAjuP
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 8, 2025
Fire Chief Kristin Crowley was trumpeted as the LAFD’s “first female and LGBTQ Fire Chief.” According to her bio, she was charged with “[c]reating, supporting, and promoting a culture that values diversity, inclusion, and equity while striving to meet and exceed the expectations of the communities.”
On social media, this went over exactly as you might think.
“Refilling the water reservoirs would have been a welcome priority, too, but I guess she had too much on her plate promoting diversity,” said actor James Woods, whose home was threatened by the fire.
Priorities stated in her bio below.
Refilling the water reservoirs would have been a welcome priority, too, but I guess she had too much on her plate promoting diversity. pic.twitter.com/7GXgBR3RO2
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 8, 2025
It’s worth noting that Crowley’s diverse background wasn’t enough to save her from almost getting fired, reportedly, after she cried foul about the budgetary and personnel shortfalls that hampered the LAFD’s response to the fires.
And then there’s LAFD Assistant Chief Kristine Larson, who works in the “Equity and Human Resources Bureau.” You may remember her from this optically horrible viral clip:
LAFD Assistant Chief Kristine Larson:
“Am I able to carry your husband out of a fire? He got himself in the wrong place.” pic.twitter.com/BofTVr6dWP
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) January 9, 2025
Yes, apparently, you shouldn’t expect firefighters to do their job well if they check off the right boxes, because if they have to be strong enough to do their job, you got yourself into trouble in the first place.
Larson’s salary? Over $400,000.
And then there’s Janisse Quiñones, the general manager and CEO of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. According to KTTV, she earns $750,000 — more than twice what her predecessor did.
If you’ve seen her, it’s during a media briefing last Wednesday in which she said, she needed residents to conserve water “because the fire department needs the water to fight the fire, and we’re fighting a wildfire with an urban water system. And that is really challenging.”
That’s a problem that needs addressing, particularly given the fact that Los Angeles is already working with a pinched water supply. A few months ago, however, Quiñones showed a different set of priorities in an interview with Los Angeles’ KBLA about the LADWP’s “Powered by Equity” (yes, seriously) program.
“Coming from the communities that I come, seeing what I’ve seen through my career in utilities and through the military — I’ve been in the Coast Guard 19 and a half years now, so I’ve got six more months to qualify for my 20 years … — it’s with an equity lens, and social justice, making sure that we right the wrongs that we’ve done in the past from an infrastructure perspective,” she said during the July interview, adding that she desired to “involve the community in that process.”
“This utility is serious about it, is authentic about it, and so I’m just super excited to be part of that movement,” she continued.
“In the past, we were, you know, putting lines from A to B and putting pipeline for water from A to B, now we’re looking at projects from a community impact perspective.”
When it comes to “community impact,” it’s difficult to see something that would impact the community more than wildfires that have burned wide swaths of the city. However, as far as Quiñones was concerned, “the number one thing that attracted me to this role” was the ability to view infrastructure choices through “an equity lens.”
Clearly, DEI policies weren’t the only progressive policy that’s to blame for the Southern California wildfires. As James B. Meigs noted at City Journal, urban building regulations and misplaced priorities in terms of climate change are one cost. More generally, environmental do-gooding that ignores the safety and security of one of America’s largest conurbations is another proximate cause.
And it’s not as if Los Angeles was alone: Let’s not forget that as the presidential race was entering the home stretch last year, the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice made a big deal about forcing several major cities to drop tests to ensure first responders had the appropriate knowledge to respond first; apparently, requiring a firefighter to add, subtract, or divide — kind of important if you’re figuring out how much hose you need, say — was racist. Who knew? It’s unclear whether this cost Vice President Kamala Harris or the Democrats any votes, but it was an underreported outrage.
That being said, it’s impossible not to look at the role that DEI has played in leaving the Los Angeles Fire Department completely ill-equipped to face the most obvious fire-related challenge confronting the region.
From bad priorities in city spending (why fund the fire department when there’s LGBT sci-fi exhibits and a “Midnight Stroll Transgender Cafe” to lavish money upon?), to high-priced DEI hires who brag about their inability to do the job or how fighting fires is secondary to fighting inequity, L.A.’s deliberate unreadiness is an appalling scandal — and deserves to be treated that way,.
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