Life-threatening & destructive windstorm headed to So Cal

I missed this move (thought he was still in the city). So sorry he is dealing with this.

Unbelievable. The water and reservoirs already exist, the problem uncovered is the pumping system was insufficient for fires of this scale and intensity. The tanks, the trucks were at capacity in anticipation of being needed. The delivery system failed, not the “warehouse.” Learn some physics before you parrot what you read or heard.

It sounds like your complaint is that people didn’t believe in the dangers of climate change *enough*. They should have modeled more fires, bigger fires, the massive amount of water needs in a condensed period of time. Then upgraded the system to meet those needs, believing it would be necessary and used. Then paid for it. How? They already stole fire money to pay cops. Millionaires crowing about not paying taxes, expecting they can just hire private firefighters when things are already burning.

Ask yourself have you pressured your local government and services to make sure their systems are not only resilient about expected levels of natural disasters whether they be floods, fire, tornados, hurricanes, but the unimaginable. Not just what you might imagine a storm’s intensity and destructive capabilities can be, but above and beyond what most people have imagined, because climate change may bring storms that bad. But you’ll sit behind your screen and cast blame,
Because it gets you what? You act like you are worried about the people who have lost their homes, but then you stand behind the people and policies that will make it worse because they can’t even *imagine* let alone understand, how this is connected to climate change. You want to prove you care, start acting like climate change is real, and people including yourself, need to pay the taxes and fees, without griping about the cost or necessity, to build the infrastructure necessary. Demand that of your leaders instead of tax breaks. Or deporting the group of people who likely possess the labor, skills and work ethic to build out that infrastructure.

Also, Hollywood history has been lost. Think about the scripts, the mementos, the photographs, the project notes, people took home from the projects they worked on. Probably the volume of several museums inventories.

Yes.

IF the correct number of reservoirs exist, it's obviously not the right number. I have read several different articles that state that the reservoirs are/were empty. If the pumping systems aren't sufficient to get water to a fire of this magnitude, it should have been taken into account knowing that wildfires get out of control and HAVE GOTTEN out of control in the past, then they should be improved or more substations need to be built.  The reservoirs are empty.  There was record rainfall last year and the year before. Maybe that record rainfall should have been routed into the reservoirs instead of into the pacific. 

Mayor Karen Bass signed the City of Los Angeles' budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The total budget for the city's fire department was $819.64 million.



Records show that for the previous fiscal year, the LAFD's total budget was $837.2 million. The total budget includes salaries, expenses and equipment.


The city's controller, Kenneth Mejia, posted a graphic on X in October confirming the fire department's budget was cut by $17.6 million. The graphic also showed that the city's police department budget increased by $126 million.

Almost a billion dollars in a budget couldn't fund improving/increasing the pumping stations, making sure the reservoirs were filled and making sure that there was sufficient power to make sure that the water could get to the hydrants?  Where did almost $1billion PER YEAR in a budget go?    I'd be interested to know what equipment and expenses cost so much money.  Its not like we are talking the entire state of california, it's the city los angeles. Salaries can't possibly cost multimillions of dollars.  

There was record rainfall the last two years.

Top five wettest back-to-back rain seasons in downtown Los Angeles

Precipitation in inches

A bar chart showing the five wettest rain seasons in downtown LA. October 1888 to 1890 had the most rain at 54.1 inches, followed by 2022 to 2024.

1888-1890

54.1

2022-2024*

52.46

1977-1979

50.86

2004-2006

50.44

1882-1884

50.29

*Water years run from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30. There are six months left in the 2024 water year.

Knowing the amount of wildfires that cali has every single year, there should be better infrastructure capturing the water for fighting them.  There is no reason or budget not to have better infrastructure.  

LAPD Budget Approved: $2.14 Billion Spending Plan for 2025-26



November 27th, 2024


The Los Angeles Board of Police Commissioners has approved a $2.14 billion budget for the LAPD’s 2025-26 fiscal year. This plan reflects an 8.1% increase, or $160.5 million more, compared to the current budget. The proposal now moves to Mayor Karen Bass and the City Administrative Office for review, with the mayor expected to present the city’s full budget in late April 2025.



A Breakdown of the Budget

The spending plan includes several critical areas of investment:



$145.3 million for salary adjustments, overtime, recruitment, and staffing improvements.

$45.2 million for replacing police vehicles and acquiring two helicopters to replace aging ones.

$3.9 million for technology, including upgrades to the Real-Time Crime Center, wireless cameras, and cybersecurity operations.

$747,252 for security services.

According to Trina Unzicker, commanding officer of the LAPD’s Fiscal Group, the proposed budget is designed to address the department’s expanding responsibilities while staying mindful of the city’s financial challenges. “Every dollar requested aligns with our mission to provide professional, effective, and equitable law enforcement services to all Angelenos,” she said.



Additional Responsibilities and Oversight

Commissioner Rasha Gerges Shields clarified that the budget isn’t just for LAPD operations but also supports the Office of Inspector General and the police commission. Shields highlighted the growing demands placed on the department, particularly in administering the city’s hotel and short-term rental ordinance, which involves processing over 9,000 permits annually.



“These are things, a lot of times, the department is criticized for asking for more and more money,” Shields explained. “But this is a very good example of how more and more responsibilities are thrust upon the department, whether or not they are the right avenue.”



Next Steps

The unanimous approval by the commission marks the first step in a lengthy budget process. The proposal’s fate will depend on review by Mayor Bass and city officials as they balance competing priorities amid a projected citywide deficit through 2028-29.

With a budget that large, I don't think that $17m from FD to PD was game changing.

and people including yourself, need to pay the taxes and fees, without griping about the cost or necessity, to build the infrastructure necessary.
I think that the taxes and fees collected by everyone in that state supplement the budget of fd and pd sufficiently. That's an awful large amount of money to be blown through by both departments to have this kind of a disaster in LA county.

The things I am seeing people say on social media underscore why he knows he can score political points. California! Hollywood! “Coastal elites”! Sinners!

Genuinely cannot connect emotionally to that. I am heartbroken for these folks. Like I was for western NC, and for New Orleans, and for every other community decimated by natural disasters. These folks will never have what they had.

I have no idea where you are getting this information from, but some of it is flat out wrong. The reservoirs in question were full, not empty.

Your reference to a bar graph is misinformation at best, most likely downright disinformation regarding the current conditions. This type of pseudoscience is worthless. You can't group years together like this and derive anything meaningful or significant from it. Look at those years that were cherry picked into something completely misleading and without scientific value. It has no connection to reality. The LA area has had less than a quarter of an inch of rainfall this fall and winter, following up on an exceptionally hot and dry summer, creating tinderbox conditions. 

Probably the same people starting the fires like in the post above. 

After the Camp Fire, when our electricity bills were increased, OG&E, Edison, ect all had town halls and on line forums and what not and made promises SHOWING where the money would be going - line improvements like auto shut offs, burying lines, new lines, etc etc etc.

None of that has been done.

Yet our bills skyrocket yearly.

I went from a $259-300 monthly bill in summer to $869-1000.

And the execs? Got raises.

A budget was also shown that improvements could be made for forestry upkeep and urban development plans for emergencies.

Aannddd it's not a water issue because the past 2 years we were WAY over and water was supposedly being saved underground.

We also have a budget with no deficits and yet cities continually cut budgets for fire and EMS yet add to police (because a freaking ramming truck for raids is more important than properly working fire hydrants)

Cities are also dissolving emergency services and forcing communities to be without (Riverside for example) where fire is 15 to 20 min away now.

And because we are so emergency dependent there is no fix.

Solar? Ha!! Edison now has it where they bill you for collecting energy.

No they don't.  Your insistence they do, as a coping mechanism because your brain is having trouble processing this kind of damage, does not make it so. I know you will never believe people like me or the PP.  But you won't even believe the for-profit insurance companies, who are following the capitalist path of actuaries running the numbers, performing the risk assessments and coming to the realization that they will lose their shirts. Insurance companies have and will continue to abandon areas identified at high risk of damage due to climate change effects, because it is their fiduciary responsibility. Unlike you and many other people they acknowledge the reasons why these things are happening, the high costs, the lack of mitigation, the lack of will.  They accept the scale of the situation, the likelihood of the situation to improve and adjusted their business plan accordingly.

The state will burn, and alternatively drown, and other states as well, because the game board is intentionally being set so that burning is the realistic outcome to storms driven by climate change.  No one will say that's what they *want*, but the choices they will MAKE, will make that outcome inevitable.  You want a different outcome, first and foremost people must believe climate change and the destructive capabilities of the storms are real.

I'm in the midwest...

ens.lacity.org/lafd/lafdreportarchv/lafdlafdreport1864166296_10272022.pdf

You are right, I will never believe people like you.  I think that "climate change" has become so convoluted that nobody knows what is good for climate and what isn't. As much as the activists want it to be all or nothing, (e.g.-electric cars for everyone and everything, no use of natural gas, solar panels, windmills, etc.) is costly and completely unrealistic.  And the hypocrisy in the climate change movement, especially amongst the politicians and the elites, is enough to disgust everyone. 

OMG, A *tank* isn't a reservoir!  It's a smaller, separate, part of the system.  The tanks were emptied and weren't able to be refilled fast enough with water from the reservoirs, because the pumping system is apparently undersized for a situation like this. The fire hydrant system is designed to fight small numbers of structure fires, they aren't designed or intended to fight wildfires.  Why are you expecting them to function beyond their capabilities?  Exactly how many tanks are you advocating communities at risk of fire have on standby?

When you have hydrants pumping out water constantly for over 12 hours, you are bound to have pressure issues. The tanks for the hydrants were not able to get refilled fast enough. And then add in residents trying to save their homes with their water hoses, causing more strain on the system.