The Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) has used their precious time and funds to attend LGBTQ Pride events and to hold Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) training seminars under the leadership of its first female chief, prompting backlash as the department struggles to fight devastating wildfires.
The fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades area “ran dry” as firefighters attempted to put out the raging flames on Wednesday, with the Los Angeles Times reporting that “scores” of them “had little to no water flowing out” on Wednesday morning.
There are three major fires, from the Pacific Coast inland to Pasadena, with officials saying at least two civilians have been killed and over 1,000 structures have been destroyed as the flames remain at 0 percent containment, according to the Associated Press.
Many social media users have criticized the LAFD for seemingly prioritizing DEI initiatives prior to the current fires:
“The LA Fire Dept passed a ‘racial equity plan’ to end ‘systemic, institutional, and structural racism’ in LA,” Libs of TikTok wrote on X, along with a 2021 LAFD “Racial Equity Plan” that includes a chart to tally the races of each employee.
In November 2022, shortly after then-Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) appointed Kristen Crowley as the first female and first openly LGBTQ fire chief, they announced the launch of the LAFD’s own DEI Bureau, “focused on ensuring a safe, diverse, and inclusive workplace for all.”
“We believe in, and are committed to, justice in Los Angeles — and we focus an equity lens on every aspect of our work,” Garcetti said at the time. “The Bureau of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion will help to ensure that our progress is permanent and we’re always moving forward with a city government and institutions that reflect and value our diversity.”
According to the department’s 2022-2023 budget, they spent a staggering $1 million on DEI policies:
“They prioritized DEI over saving lives and homes,” said Elon Musk:
The Racial Equity Plan asserts that DEI helps the department become “stronger and more effective.”
“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 document 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.”
A recent department training video shows how dedicated emergency officials are to making their employees learn how to work in a “diverse and inclusive workforce”:
“We are hosting our new employee orientation, and our focus is to teach our new employees, for them to understand cultural competency, identify implicit and unconscious bias, and be aware of the importance of us having a diverse and inclusive workforce,” Shawna Lewis, the department’s full-time DEI manager said in the clip.
Toni Arellano, the department’s director of data informatics, was seen calling on LGBTQ “allies” from the pool of first responders in the video.
Alvin Brewer, the LAFD’s assistant DEI chief, said that his goal is for the department to “be recognized nationally, and possibly even globally, as an agency that is very serious about diversity equity and inclusion.”
In another post from Libs of TikTok, she showed Crowley and other LAFD personnel handing out pride flags at an LGBTQ parade:
“Los Angeles Fire Department celebrated in a pride parade. The Police Chief handed out pride flags to attendees. She is hailed as the first female and LGBTQ chief and says her priority is DEI,” the conservative influencer wrote on X. “Your tax dollars pay for this.”
The current mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass (D), who was on a trip to Ghana when the fires engulfed large portions of the city, also cut nearly $20 million from the city’s budget for fire services for the current fiscal year, Breitbart News reported.