Los Angeles Times owner Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong on Wednesday called into question Mayor Karen Bass’ recent cut to the L.A. Fire Department’s budget as the city is being ravaged by urban wildfires.
Soon-Shiong, in a post on X, said Bass’ decision to cut the LAFD budget, coupled with reports of empty fire hydrants, raises “serious questions” about her leadership.
“Competence matters,” he wrote (Bass’ initial proposal called for the city to cut $23 million from LAFD’s 2024-25 fiscal year budget; the LAFD budget was ultimately slashed by $17.6 million).
The LAFD budget cuts were the second biggest cuts of the year, trailing only behind the city’s street services, which had $21.6 million slashed.
Bass has also been criticized for being out of town while the city grapples with the wreckage; the mayor has been in Ghana as part of a U.S. delegation for the inauguration of Ghanaian President John Mahama. She is currently en route home from Dallas, expected to return around 12 noon PT.
Los Angeles has been devastated by three major wildfires since Tuesday, with 80-99 mph wind gusts spreading destruction in the Palisades, Altadena and Pasadena. Officials on Wednesday said more than 1,000 homes, businesses, schools and other buildings had burned, and two deaths were reported overnight.
The region’s most destructive wildfires in memory claimed more than 5,000 acres in the celebrity enclave of the Pacific Palisades; the Eaton fire burned more than 2,000 acres in Altadena and Pasadena, where the fatalities were reported; and the Hurst fire to the north in Sylmar burned 500 acres at the foot of the Angeles National Forest.
Those fires each remain at 0% containment as of Wednesday morning, as hundreds of thousands of locals have either received evacuation orders or warning notices after the fires began Tuesday.
The Mayor’s office did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
JD Knapp contributed to this report.
