Dozens of fire trucks and ambulances continue to sit unused at lot in Lincoln Heights, Councilmember Tracy Park says lack of mechanics and resources could be the issue. Camilla Rambaldi reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Feb. 6, 2025.
Dozens of service emergency vehicles are sitting unused at a maintenance yard in Lincoln Heights, following the $18 million budget cut to the Los Angeles Fire Department.
In December, Newschopper4 spotted dozens of fire trucks and ambulances in the lot. It is unclear how long the fire trucks and ambulances have been sitting for repair.
"Unfortunately, there are dozens of million-dollar fire rigs sitting in a boneyard out of service because there is a lack of mechanics to fix them," said City Councilmember Traci Park. "As a taxpayer, as a resident and as the council member for the community that is now the site of the largest fire disaster in our city’s history – it is incredibly frustrating to see the lack of investment and resources in our fire department."
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said last month that the budget cuts did not have an impact on the LAFD’s response to the wildfires. At a news conference Friday morning, Bass called for a full investigation.
"There were fire trucks that had mechanical issues and we need mechanics to take care of them," Bass said. "But there were also fire trucks that were idle because of staffing, and that's an issue in terms of the deployment and the pre-deployment and all of that will be investigated."
In a memo back in December, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley warned weeks before the Palisades Fire that the budget reduction, approved by Mayor Karen Bass last year, would impact the department’s ability to prepare and respond to large-scale emergencies.
“So, the $17 million cut did not allow us to do what we needed to do,” Crowley said. “And where that impacted us specifically for Palisades was our ability to move into reserve apparatus.”
She added that the cut impacted mechanics and mainly affected fire engines and ambulances that needed repair.
“You know hard to say for sure whether any one of those vehicles at the end of the day would have made a difference just given the extreme circumstances of that fire, the wind, the lack of water and other challenges that our firefighters faced. But in general, in life, more resources to lead better outcomes.”
On Jan. 14 on X, the United Firefighters of Los Angeles wrote that “firefighters have been speaking about staffing issues and a lack of investment in the LAFD for years.”
