UPDATE: Fires stop Los Angeles Fire Department brownouts. Announcement comes hours before story on delayed EMS response to child drowning.
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Previous coverage here and here
As fires continue to threaten Southern California Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Millage Peaks suspended the rotating closure policy that began on August 6. The announcement came in a statement issued this morning. According to the Los Angeles Times‘ Phil Willon, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said every action is being taken to “ensure every resource is available to fight this fire and protect those at risk.’’
Just hours after that statement was released the same newspaper posted a story on its website with this headline:
L.A. fire officials unsure if budget cuts complicated response to drowning child in Bel Air
Here’s how the article by Robert J. Lopez begins:
A 3-year-old boy died in a swimming pool accident last week in Bel Air on a day when one of the neighborhood’s fire engines had been shut down because of budget cuts, according to interviews and records obtained by The Times.
The remaining two units at the neighborhood firehouse had been sent to another emergency just 94 seconds before the agency’s dispatch center sounded the alarm for the swimming pool call, Los Angeles Fire Department dispatch records show.
The next-closest rescuers took more than 10 minutes to arrive after the 911 call was made as family members struggled to save the child, who had drowned in the pool.
At the same time there is an article that Los Angeles officials are trying to declare and impasse in the contract negotiations with firefighters. Click here for the details.
