Staggering images appears to show around 100 fire trucks sitting idly in a Los Angeles repair lot as fires ravage the city.
The pictures, captured by a local activist, shows scores of essential firefighting vehicles sitting in the LA Fire Department’s Bureau Of Supply and Maintenance lot on North Avenue 19 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 apparatus, and the proper amount of mechanics would have helped.’
The LAFD has a total of 183 trucks, meaning that more than half of the city’s fire trucks are out of commission as the fires continue to burn through dense urban spaces, killing at least 24, displacing more than 200,000 and destroying over 12,000 buildings.
It comes just three months after the LAFD made a request to the city’s council to replace the entire fleet at the cost of $96.5million.
The LAFD said in its request: ‘Many vehicles have surpasses their expected service life, leading to increased maintenance costs, reduces parts availability and potential downtime.’
The fire service also requested more than $1.9million to restore 16 maintenance positions ‘deleted’ in last year’s budget.
It said in its request: ‘The positions support fleet maintenance, equipment engineering, purchasing and warehouse management and distribution.’
The footage, captured by a local activist, shows scores of essential firefighting vehicles sitting in the LA Fire Department’s Bureau Of Supply and Maintenance lot
LA fire chief Kristin Crowley said in an interview with CNN: ‘We have over 100 fire apparatus out of service. Having these apparatus, and the proper amount of mechanics would have helped’
A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire as it burns a structure in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on January 7
The positions requested include one truck operator, one tire repairer, four heavy duty equipment mechanics, nine mechanical helpers, one carpenter, one general automotive supervisor, two administrative clerks and one storekeeper.
LA’s fire chief Kristin Crowley told Jake Tapper on CNN: ‘Over the last 3 years, we have been clear that the fire department needs help.’
She added that she has emphasized how ‘understaffed, under-resourced, and underfunded the LAFD is’, adding: ‘I rang the bell that these additional cuts could be very very devastating for our ability to provide public safety.’
The fires that began Tuesday north of downtown LA have burned more than 12,000 homes, cars and other structures.
Authorities haven’t determined an official cause for any of the fires.
Additional water tankers and scores of firefighters have arrived at the Los Angeles area ahead of fierce winds that were forecast to return and threaten the progress made so far in the fight against the infernos.
On Monday, planes doused homes and hillsides with bright pink fire-retardant chemicals, while crews and fire engines were being placed near particularly vulnerable spots with dry brush.
Dozens of water trucks rolled in to replenish supplies after hydrants ran dry last week when the two largest fires erupted.
The LAFD has a total of 183 trucks, meaning that more than half of the city’s fire trucks are out of commission
As the death toll surged to 24 in recent days, officials warned that the figure is expected to grow as crews struggle to access the smoldering wreckages of entire neighborhoods
Firefighters in the stricken Palisades area have been overwhelmed by the rapidly spreading fires, amid scrutiny on the state’s response
Bass and other officials – who have faced criticism over their initial response to fires that began last week – expressed confidence Monday that the region was ready to face the new threat with additional firefighters brought in from around the U.S., as well as Canada and Mexico.
‘We’re absolutely better prepared,’ LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said when asked what will be different from a week ago, when hurricane-force winds propelled multiple fires across the parched, brush-filled region that hasn’t seen rain in more than eight months.
There have been more than a dozen wildfires in Southern California since Jan. 1, mostly in the greater Los Angeles area.
The latest started late Monday in a dry riverbed in Oxnard, about 55 miles (about 89 kilometers) northwest of Los Angeles, and was burning in an agricultural area.
The winds are predicted to pick up starting early Tuesday and continue through midday Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service.
They are not expected to reach hurricane-force like last week, but they could ground firefighting aircraft, Marrone said, warning if winds reach 70 mph (112 kph), ‘it’s going to be very difficult to contain that fire.’
Fire officials advised residents in high-risk areas to just leave home – and not wait for formal evacuation orders – if they sense danger.
In less than a week, four fires around the nation’s second-biggest city have scorched more than 62 square miles (160 square kilometers), roughly three times the size of Manhattan.
At least 24 people have died and 12,000 buildings burned to the ground in multiple fires across Los Angeles this month
A Pacific Palisades resident surveys the damage to his neighborhood after it was devastated by fires over the past week
The National Weather Service warned the weather will be ‘particularly dangerous’ on Tuesday, when wind gusts could reach 65 mph (105 kph). A large part of Southern California around Los Angeles is under this extreme fire danger warning through Wednesday, including densely populated Thousand Oaks, Northridge and Simi Valley.
The Eaton Fire near Pasadena is roughly one-third contained, while the largest blaze in Pacific Palisades on the coast is far 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 that people are eager to return to their homes and neighborhoods to survey the damage, but he asked for their patience. ‘We have people literally looking for the remains of your neighbors,’ he said.
At a Monday evening community meeting about the Palisades Fire, a Los Angeles Police Department official said many people reported as missing had been found. It wasn’t clear if there was overlap in the numbers shared by the sheriff.
