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The Los Angeles Fire Department’s focus on DEI is being questioned in the wake of devastating wildfires that threaten to destroy LA.

The current Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) chief, Kristin Crowley, is herself seemingly a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) hire, as evidenced by her being the first female and openly gay LAFD chief.

But to make matters worse, Crowley has, since being appointed to the role in 2022, been advocating for even more DEI within the LAFD. That year she told local station KNBC that her “vision” for the department’s future included a “three-year strategic plan to increase diversity.”

“Out of 3300 city firefighters, only 115 are women right now,” a KNBC reporter noted at the time. “She’s already looking at ways to change that. She’s quick to point out that doing so has the greatest purpose, attracting the best and brightest for the job.”

Listen:

Three years later, her jurisdiction is now in tatters as three devastating wildfires sweep through the region and have already caused over 100,000 residents to receive evacuation advisories.

Here’s where things take an even darker turn.

“Despite working around the clock, firefighters are unable to make significant progress battling the blazes due to ferocious winds,” CNN reported Wednesday morning, citing the president of the California Professional Firefighters.

“[With] gusts that are reported into the 60s, 70s, and 80s, you’re not going to control that,” union President Brian Rice said. “These men and women are going to put in 24-, 36-, 40-, 48-hour shifts. They’re not going off the fire line anytime soon.”

“Everyone is at the mercy of the wind right now. And until we see a shift in the wind, or a drop in the wind, it’s just not going to let up,” he added.

But critics claim it’s not just the wind holding back the firefighters — it’s their obsession with DEI.

“All those people lost everything to the fires all because they hired a woke chief,” one social media user alleged. “DEI takes lives and property. Keep going with it Dems. All you’re doing is hiring people that care less about the job at hand so they can gaslight.”

See more responses below:

One commenter especially nailed it. He noted that if the LAFD were truly focused on hiring “the best and brightest for the job,” they’d already be in the department, regardless of their race or gender.

“Merit alone should be the goal, diversity based on meeting quotas leads to sub-optimal outcomes,” he explained.

Look:

Vivek Saxena
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