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Crime & Safety

Fire Official Defends Budget Plan, Tries to Calm Fears Over Cuts

City's assistant fire chief addresses community gathering in Sherman Oaks to explain how Valley will be affected by cutbacks. Local Fire Station 88 to remain intact, he says.

The heated debate over Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's proposed budget cuts to the Los Angeles City Fire Department took a new turn Thursday night, as the man responsible for assuring that the budget cuts work took center stage at a Neighborhood Councils meeting in Sherman Oaks.

Assistant Fire Chief Patrick Butler, who represents the San Fernando Valley, met with a group of community activists at Sherman Oaks Hospital to explain what the cuts would mean for the Valley.

Villaraigosa's plan calls for roughly $53 million in cuts to the LAFD, citywide. Butler had to find a way to help the city's fire chief deploy his reduced resources with the money allotted to him.

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To do that, Butler told Sherman Oaks Patch, he constructed a citywide model that eliminates 318 LAFD members through attrition. The department would also discontinue at least 11 engine companies, which means that the engines will sit unused except in the most pressing emergencies. Two ambulances will sit unstaffed unless absolutely needed. There are no plans to close any city fire stations.

Most of the concerns at Thursday's meeting came from residents who live in high-risk fire areas, such as Sunland. Butler noted that the U.S. Forest Service sends the LAFD a predictive weather report each day. Based on that report, the agency will pre-deploy resources to communities that may be most fire-prone due to dry, hot weather and high winds.  

Find out what's happening in Sherman Oakswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Butler's calming words at the meeting were in sharp contrast to the anger expressed by some battalion chiefs, the Firemans' Union and the rank and file.

On Wednesday, Battalion Chief Steven Ruda told Sherman Oaks Patch that the cuts would have a huge impact on fire service. He agrees with the Firefighters' Union that human lives will be put at risk, a statement that Butler would not support, saying that there are just too many variables in each situation, making the question impossible to answer.

Both Ruda and Butler agree that there will be firefighters available for 911 calls, but if you have a situation in which a station is hit with multiple calls, the next deployment could be delayed because that response has to come from another station that may be farther away.

There will be times when the closest ambulance will not have anyone to man it.  Staff may have to be pulled from a truck on hand or they may have to be called in from another station, potentially wasting precious minutes. 

The upside, as Butler sees it, is that his model will end the practice of rotating firefighters through different stations depending on perceived need and instead keep the same teams together to provide consistency and efficiency. He says his plan will also help the city financially in the long term.

The downside is that there will be fewer firefighters on the streets right in the middle of fire season. 

With all the stations affected, Station 88 on Sepulveda Boulevard in Sherman Oaks will remain intact, he said. After the meeting, Butler explained to Sherman Oaks Patch that Station 88 is the home of the Urban Search and Rescue team as well as the headquarters for one of FEMA's divisions. That means that all the equipment and personnel need to remain ready. 

Fifth District City Councilman Paul Koretz told Sherman Oaks Patch that he agrees with the Firefighters' Union that the cuts are too deep, but, he said, "right now, I don't think that we have any alternatives."

Koretz said he hopes funds for fire services can be replaced by assuring that union concessions are funneled into restoring services instead of being absorbed into the city's General Fund. 

 The city is facing an estimated $300 million debt. Police and fire services account for 70 to 75 percent of the city's budget.

No one from Villaraigosa's office returned a phone call from Patch seeking comment.

The full council will begin looking at the full budget May 18. Once the council votes on it, it goes to the mayor for approval. The budget is to be ready by July 1, the beginning of the city's fiscal year.

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