The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) committed significant resources to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives before the outbreak of massive fires that devastated the Los Angeles area overnight.
The LAFD has implemented an internal “racial equity plan,” subjected employees to diversity training and is currently led by Chief Kristin Crowley, “the first female and LGBTQ Fire Chief in the LAFD” and a staunch supporter of the initiatives. As strong winds fed the wildfires on Tuesday evening, former Republican Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso reported that some fire hydrants were running low on water as the department scrambled to mobilize firefighters.
As Los Angeles burns, it is important to note that, Kristin Crowley, the Chief of the LA Fire Department, constructed a DEI Bureau and prioritized diversity initiatives. pic.twitter.com/j9PyAlrVt0
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 8, 2025
The department’s racial equity plan, adopted in 2021, asserts that the LAFD is a better firefighting organization for focusing on the demographic characteristics of its personnel.
“The strength of any organization rests in its greatest resource—its people; and LAFD leadership cannot accomplish any of the racial equity and inclusion goals without the employees to accomplish the work and embrace the vision while being guided by competent leadership,” the LAFD racial equity plan states. “It has been concluded and realized that the more talent, skills, perspectives, insight, knowledge, and abilities acquired through racial equity and inclusion, the stronger and more effective and competitive the organization has become.”
The LAFD evidently did not have adequate personnel on hand to mount an immediate and sufficient response to the devastating fires, indicated by the rare Tuesday night call to off-duty firefighters to report their availability. Some forecasts, including those issued by the National Interagency Fire Center and the California Office for Emergency Services, warned that Southern California was at high risk for serious fires before Tuesday’s events.
In a brief with the news media Wednesday morning, officials said that the fires have claimed more than 1,000 buildings and caused serious injuries for civilians who did not evacuate hard-hit areas in time.
EATON FIRE: Another shot from tonight obtained by @DailyCaller News Foundation. Being told winds are still pushing embers around making it incredibly hectic for officials to slow anything down. #Pasadena | #California pic.twitter.com/sqf1qlR3bl
— Hailey Grace Gomez (@haileyggomez) January 8, 2025
Shortly after taking over the top job at LAFD in 2022, Crowley made clear in a local news segment that one of her top priorities would be increasing the department’s diversity. In the interview, she suggested she does not look to meet specific demographic quotas in the department because there is “never enough” diversity.
Los Angeles County also posted an October 2024 video touting a one-day DEI planning event hosted by the Anti-Racism, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative, during which county leaders worked on ideas and plans to “realize a just and equitable LA County for all residents and all communities.” An official county website detailing its work with the Anti-Racism, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative states that the county “seeks to end structural racism and its consequences by working closely with all County departments, commissions, agencies, and advisory bodies to collaborate with all cities, unincorporated communities, school districts, state and federal agencies, community-based organizations, philanthropy and academic institutions.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the fires were still out of control, consuming thousands of acres of land with the help of powerful wind gusts that have yet to subside.
The LAFD did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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