Alex Villanova discusses the local response to the devastating California wildfires on “The Big Money Show.”
Los Angeles' budget is in the spotlight Multiple fires Amid revelations that Mayor Karen Bass slashed the fire department's budget last year while prioritizing spending on the city's homeless population, there was outrage across the city.
For the fiscal year 2023-2024, Los Angeles It budgeted $837 million for the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD), roughly 65 percent of the $1.3 billion homeless budget.
Mayor Karen Bass cut the Los Angeles Fire Department's budget by more than $17 million last year. He initially proposed a $23 million cut. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images/File)
An analysis by the Los Angeles City Comptroller last year found that nearly half of the homeless budget was not spent.
From the 2023-2024 budgets to the 2024-2025 budgets, the LAFD budget decreased by more than $17 million from $837,191,237 to $819,637,423.
Firefighters battle wind and fire as houses burn in Malibu, California, along Pacific Coast Highway near Carbon Canyon Road in the Palisades Fire on January 8, 2025. (David Crane/News Media Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)
Bass had proposed a larger budget cut to the LAFD, about $23 million, but it was not approved.
FOX Business reached out to Bass' office for comment on the reason for the cuts.
Los Angeles-area college campuses closed as wildfires spread
Homeless funding was also cut in the 2024-2025 budget, but remained higher than the LAFD budget.
Tents for the homeless are seen on a Skid Row sidewalk in Los Angeles on August 16, 2023. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Los Angeles is currently at the center of four wildfires, the Eaton, Palisades, Woodley and Hurst fires that have burned. Countless houses and jobs And it took the lives of two people.
Wildfires continue in Southern California (Fox News)
The fires have prompted evacuation orders for more than 30,000 people, and California is struggling. insurance crisis After several insurers fled the state, mainly because of costs associated with fire losses.
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The Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported that seven of the 20 most destructive wildfires in California occurred in the past five years. In terms of economic cost, the Camp Fire cost $10 billion in 2018, the Tubbs fire cost $8.7 billion in 2017, and the Woolsey fire cost $4.2 billion in 2018.
Fox News' Anders Hagstrom and Kristen Altus contributed to this report.