FIXING LA’S FIRE DEPARTMENT — In the last 26 days, since my campaign published an analysis of Los Angeles Fire Department emergency response-time performance, and another candidate cited a statistic that inadvertently led to the discovery of falsified and misleading LAFD data, the light’s been shined on a problem that appears to have been building for a decade or more.
Firegate erupted the weekend of March 18, when LAFD barricaded the bunker in response to a barrage of media inquiries. In the face of questions, LAFD stopped sharing incident report information that routinely has been made available to the public, including community responders. We were left wondering: What more are they hiding?
For a 48-hour period, it was uncertain whether LAFD even would make available aggregate data on emergency response times, a pretty clear violation of the law if they didn’t. Fortunately, Mayor Villaraigosa acted the adult and ordered an end to the information blackout.
The scuffle over the data masks two more important questions: Why weren’t the watchers, including the City Controller and the City Council, watching, and why does Los Angeles tolerate fire service at a level that doesn’t meet national performance standards 40% of the time?
I can only speculate about the watchers. Did they not want to know the truth? Did they know the truth but not want us to know? Did they simply not consider it a priority to know, despite the fact that there’s nothing more fundamental to the health and safety of our people than emergency response, including for heart attacks and structure and brush fires?
Now that we know the extent of the problem, the challenge is how to attack it. The number of firefighters, the number of stations, the condition and availability of equipment, the dispatch system … all this and more must be considered.
As a pragmatic guy, what I want to know is pretty straightforward: What it’s going to take, and what it’s going to cost, to improve the level of service. Let’s look at all the options and the numbers, including for administration and personnel.
While we’re at it, let’s look at the rest of our public safety operation. Does the city still need 10,000 police officers? (Maybe we do, maybe we don’t.) Maybe we should trade some police officers for firefighters. Or deal with non-emergency calls in a different way. Or recover more cost, such as from local utilities since a reasonable share of fire emergency incidents are utility-related, as my report notes.
Ensuring LA’s fate as a livable, sustainable city demands our local government produce honest information, ask constructive questions and manage our way out of the most pressing problems.
Can the same leaders who allowed Firegate to happen fix the underlying problems? Or will they put Band-aids on the situation and call it a day? We’ll know soon enough.
In the meantime, pray for regular rain to keep the hillsides damp, and take a baby aspirin every day. Your life may really depend on it.
(Cary Brazeman, a contributor to CityWatch, a neighborhood council board member and founder of LA Neighbors United, is a candidate for City Controller of Los Angeles. Contact him at [email protected].) -cw
Tags: Cary Brazeman, Firegate, LAFD, LA Fire Department, response times
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 25
Pub: Mar 27, 2012