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Firefighters make a stand Jan. 11, 2025, in front of the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles. (AP) Firefighters make a stand Jan. 11, 2025, in front of the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles. (AP)

Firefighters make a stand Jan. 11, 2025, in front of the Palisades Fire in Mandeville Canyon in Los Angeles. (AP)

Grace Abels
By Grace Abels January 17, 2025
Jeff Cercone
By Jeff Cercone January 17, 2025

If Your Time is short

  • Over several years, the Los Angeles Fire Department, or LAFD, has introduced initiatives and declared goals to increase diversity among its ranks. The programs’ impact is so far unclear.

  • The LAFD’s fire chief rebutted claims that diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, or DEI, have distracted from the department’s emergency response, which she called her top priority. 

  • A review of three department budgets shows spending on DEI-related projects comprised a tiny fraction of the budget. This year’s budget noted $2.62 million in DEI-related spending, which is 0.3% of the $819 million budget. 

As wildfires blaze in Southern California, leaving a trail of destruction, some prominent conservatives are blaming a familiar culprit: "DEI" or diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.?

"Meet Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley," wrote the X account Libs of TikTok on Jan. 8. "She boasts about being the first female and LGBTQ fire chief in the LA Fire Department. Promoting a culture of DEI is her priority. Does this make you feel safer?"?

On Jan. 9, X CEO Elon Musk wrote, "DEI means people DIE," alongside a KNBC 4 clip introducing Crowley and discussing her goals to make the Los Angeles Fire Department more diverse.

Donald Trump Jr., conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, and actor James Woods have made accusations similar to Musk’s. DEI initiatives broadly include efforts to increase diversity in ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, culture, class, religion and opinion.

Wildfires ignited in several Los Angeles neighborhoods in the morning of Jan. 7. Intense winds and dryness exacerbated the fires’ spread, sometimes grounding firefighting aircrafts. The fires had burned more than 40,690 acres as of Jan. 17, straining existing infrastructure. During the morning of Jan. 8, fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades "ran dry."

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The Los Angeles Department of Water has linked the shortage to "unprecedented and extreme water demand" that caused low water pressure in some hydrants. The fire department does not manage water delivered to the city’s fire hydrants.

But some critics connected the empty hydrants to DEI: "We don’t care about your lady parts, and we don’t care who you want having access to them," podcaster Megyn Kelly said on her Jan. 8 show. "Can you fight fires? Can you make sure there is water in the fire hydrants?"?

John Murphy, a retired deputy fire chief and current commissioner for Eastside Fire and Rescue District 38 in Issaquah, Washington, said blaming the department’s diversity initiatives for its response to the wildfires is "ridiculous" because there is no correlation.?

"They could spend a million dollars on DEI, or $1 on DEI. It wouldn't make a difference," said Murphy, who has written about industry efforts to incorporate DEI.?

Murphy said the wind-driven fires overwhelmed the department, and?water supply snags further hampered the response.?

Republicans have taken to blaming "DEI" initiatives during crises. After President-elect Donald Trump was shot at during a July 2024 rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, some people blamed the U.S. Secret Service’s efforts to recruit more women. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said "woke" policies were harming military recruiting; Musk tied concerns about Boeing Co. planes safety to "DEI hiring"; and Phil Lyman, a Republican state representative in Utah, linked?the March 2024 Francis Scott Key Bridge collapse in Baltimore to?governors "prioritizing diversity."

In every case in which PolitiFact has reported on these claims, experts have said evidence does not support the idea that DEI has been a destructive force. Our reporting found several shortcomings to the argument that the Los Angeles Fire Department’s diversity pushes hampered the recent wildfire response, including:

  • DEI-related efforts listed in the budget were a minuscule portion of the agency’s overall budget over the last three years.

  • The agency’s efforts to become more inclusive predated the 2022 promotion of its first female fire chief and came in response to — and amid —?complaints about sexism and racism in its ranks and leadership.

  • There is no clear data that the department’s DEI initiatives have dramatically changed its workforce’s makeup.

  • Even if these initiatives had changed the workforce, experts told PolitiFact, there’s no clear correlation between diverse hiring and wildfire response.

  • The fire response has faced numerous obstacles that have nothing to do with diversity, most clearly the role weather has played in the fires’ spread.

Timothy Ingalsbee, a former wildland firefighter and executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, a public education and advocacy group, said the wildfires are "a clear sign that we have surpassed the human capacity to stop these extreme, urban conflagrations during these extreme conditions."?

It’s a "grand delusion" to suggest that "more white, male firefighters, bigger fire engines or bigger air tankers" would have stopped this disaster from unfolding, he said.


Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley, seen at a Feb. 15, 2024, news conference, in 2022 became the first woman and openly gay person to lead the department. (AP)

Critics focus on Chief Kristin Crowley, a 24-year department veteran

Much of the online critique of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s diversity initiatives have focused on Crowley, who took office in March 2022.?

Crowley served 24 years in the department before becoming chief. She is the agency’s first woman leader and she is also openly gay, making her also its first public LGBTQ+ person promoted to the agency’s top job. According to local news station KNBC- TV, Crowley in 1998 was a top scorer on the firefighters’ exam and gradually ascended the department’s ranks.

Despite these qualifications, social media users have referred to Crowley as a "DEI hire" and criticized her statements in a 2022 news interview in which she said she wanted to increase the diversity in this agency, which then counted 115 women among its 3,300-person force.

"People ask me, ‘What number are you looking for?’ I say, ‘I’m not looking for a number, it's never enough,’" Crowley said.

In the same interview, she said she was preparing for the agency’s budgeting and ways to address risks associated with climate change.

Evidence shows DEI spending was tiny party of budget

We examined Crowley’s initiatives aimed at increased diversity in the department and found no evidence they were prioritized over emergency response or preparedness.

The agency’s 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 budgets each show two approved budget requests related to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives — including staffing and targeted recruitment programs. In the current budget, those two programs cost $2.62 million, which comes to 0.3% of the agency’s overall $819.6 million budget. PolitiFact could not confirm whether this accounted for all of the department’s DEI-related spending, but these were the only "significant" programs the budget flagged.?

The efforts mostly signaled a change in tone amid what a 2023 Los Angeles Times investigation described as a long-standing culture that tolerated racist and sexual behavior.??

The department in November 2022 launched the Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Bureau focused on "building and fostering a Department committed to engaging the voices and respecting the humanity of all its members, reflected in how it handles recruitment and hiring, workplace conduct, retention, and promotion."

And in March 2023, the department rolled out a 48-page Strategic Plan for 2023-26 that included as one of its seven "key goals" the mission to "commit to an organization that embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion."

That plan’s top goal: to "deliver exceptional public safety and emergency service."

Asked about the DEI criticism, Crowley said in a Jan. 10 CBS News report that her priorities are emergency response, firefighter safety and encouraging a healthy work environment.

Crowley’s elevation to chief aside, the department’s diversity goals aren’t new. The department’s 2015-17 strategic plan, for example, included a goal to "recruit, develop and retain a professional and diverse workforce." The 2018-20 plan included goals to increase diversity in recruitment including the number of women firefighters on the force. In 2021, under the previous leadership of Chief Ralph Terrazas, the department created a "racial equity action plan."?

Impact of DEI policies are difficult to assess

It’s harder to measure the cumulative effect of the agency’s DEI policies. In 2020, the department fell short of its goal to reach 5% female staffing. (It was 3.3%.)

A 2021 survey of workplace culture found that 56% of the department’s women employees and 41% of Blacks, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders — felt harassment and bullying were a problem.

When Crowley was sworn in, 3.5% of its firefighters were women, KNBC- TV reported.?

But when the agency announced the creation of its DEI bureau in 2022, after Crowley became chief, it touted figures it claimed showed increases in diverse job applicants: 70% were people of color and 8% of candidates were female.

PolitiFact couldn’t determine the agency’s current gender breakdown —?the most recent numbers we found were from 2021. The Los Angeles Fire Department has been clear that its press communications are focused on addressing the wildfires, and we did not hear back for this story.

Any changes, however, came after years of complaints, including lawsuits and allegations of an unwelcome environment for women and people of color during Terrazas’ tenure and before. Harassment allegations by firefighters and women’s advocates eventually led to October 2021 calls for Terrazas’ resignation.

Effects of DEI in fire departments?

Corinne Bendersky, a UCLA management professor and workplace diversity and inclusion expert, said it’s wrong to connect the fire department’s response to DEI.

"The wildfire and all the emergency response operations are tactical actions, whereas DEI goals are long-term strategic goals associated with broader staffing and organizational culture initiatives," Bendersky said.

Critics say financial resources spent on DEI would be better spent on operational resources, training and staffing. Bendersky said inclusive policies help the department better respond to a wider range of emergency calls and improve operational efficiency.

"More women in a department can improve responses to domestic violence and rape emergency calls where there is a traumatized female victim to help," she said. "More ethnic diversity makes fire crews better able to respond in culturally sensitive ways to emergencies that occur within people’s homes."

Bendersky said her research and consultations with fire departments nationwide show it’s a myth that DEI efforts have lowered standards at fire departments.

"Changes in standards are always based on empirical evidence of what tactics improve operational performance," not to make it easier to hire weaker and less capable firefighters, she said.?

A 2019 U.S. Fire Administration report said physical challenges have long been a barrier for women seeking to be firefighters. The report included data from 2013 that showed prospective women firefighters had an 85% failure rate on physical agility entrance tests, compared with 9% in men.

The Fire Administration recommended standardizing the candidate physical ability test firefighters must pass and said leadership should provide training resources and offer practice sessions to help recruits prepare for the test.

But that doesn’t mean that women firefighters can’t do the job as well as men can, experts said.?

"There is no evidence that women who have been selected based on standardized tests and entrance requirements, passed departmental recruit academies, and completed a year of probation in their department are any less capable of being successful firefighters than are men who have (passed) through the exact same set of evaluations," Bendersky said.

Ingalsbee, meanwhile, said despite the current political climate, DEI initiatives are still worth the effort.

"As it is, the job appeals only to a relatively narrow spectrum of society, and this is not sustainable for the challenge of managing climate-driven wildfire activity in the future," Ingalsbee said.

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Our Sources

Email interview, Corinne Bendersky, a UCLA management professor and expert in workplace diversity and inclusion, Jan. 14, 2025

Interview, John Murphy, EastSide Fire and Rescue Fire District 38 commissioner , Jan. 15, 2025?

Interview, Timothy Ingalsbee, executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, Jan. 16, 2025

Fire Engineering, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Fire Service, March 16, 2024

Los Angeles Times, Women say they endure ‘frat house’ culture at L.A. Fire Department. ‘The worst of my life’, July 8, 2021

Los Angeles Times, Female firefighters, civil rights advocates call for LAFD chief’s removal, Oct. 18, 2021

Los Angeles Daily News, 6 Black LAFD employees sue the city, citing ‘good old white boys club’, June 13, 2021

International Association of Fire Chiefs, Study of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Fire and EMS, August 2024

U.S. Fire Administration, Emerging Health and Safety Issues Among Women in the Fire Service, March 2019

X post (archived), Jan 8, 2025

X post (archived), Jan 9, 2025

NBC News 4, "City Council Confirms Appointment of First Woman to Serve as Chief in LAFD's 136-Year History," March 1, 2022

X post (archived), Jan. 8, 2025

X post (archived), Jan. 10, 2025

The Washington Post, "How Santa Ana winds fueled the Palisades Fire and other California blazes," Jan. 8, 2025

NBC News 4, "High winds do more than spread fires — they keep firefighting aircraft on the ground," Jan. 13, 2025

Los Angeles Times, "Fire hydrants ran dry as Pacific Palisades burned. L.A. city officials blame 'tremendous demand'," Jan. 8, 2025

Los Angeles Department of Water & Power, "Pacific Palisades Fire: Correcting Misinformation About LADWP’s Water System," accessed Jan 15, 2025

X post (archived), Jan. 8, 2025

Fire Engineering, "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Fire Service - DEI," March 16, 2024

PolitiFact, "Trump rally shooting put scrutiny on Secret Service women, diversity efforts. Here are the facts," July 22, 2024

PolitiFact, "Politicians blame 'wokeism' for low military recruitment. The problem is more complex," Sept. 25, 2023

Fox Business, "Elon Musk dings Boeing after Alaska Airlines scare: ‘Prioritized DEI hiring’," Jan. 11, 2024

NBC News, "Utah lawmaker blames 'diversity' for Baltimore bridge collapse," March 27, 2024

X post (archived), Jan. 9, 2025

Los Angeles Fire Department, "Mayor Garcetti Announces Launch of the First-Ever LAFD Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Bureau," Nov. 22, 2022

Los Angeles Fire Department, "2023-2026 Strategic Plan," accessed Jan. 13, 2025

X post, Jan. 10, 2025

City of Los Angeles, "FY 2024-2025 LAFD Adopted Budget," July 22, 2024

City of Los Angeles, "FY 2022‐23 LAFD Adopted Budget," Aug. 22, 2022

City of Los Angeles, "FY 2023-2024 LAFD Adopted Budget," July 21, 2023

Internet Archive, "LAFD Strategic Plan 2015-2017," archived April 25, 2023

Internet Archive, "LAFD Strategic Plan 2018-2020," archived Oct. 15, 2022?

City of Los Angeles, "LAFD Racial Equity Action Plan FY 2020-2021," March 2, 2021

Los Angeles Times, "L.A. has hired more female firefighters. Why is the department still dominated by men?," Jan. 27, 2020

Los Angeles Times, "Female firefighters, civil rights advocates call for LAFD chief’s removal, Oct. 18, 2021

Los Angeles Times, Women say they endure ‘frat house’ culture at L.A. Fire Department. ‘The worst of my life’, July 8, 2021

Los Angeles Daily News, "6 Black LAFD employees sue the city, citing ‘good old white boys club’" June 13, 2021

ABC News, "LA's fire chief is at the center of a public spat with City Hall as wildfires rage," Jan. 11, 2025

City of Los Angeles, "2022 Update on LAFD Gender Equity Plan," July 19, 2022

PolitiFact, "Fact-check: Los Angeles fires fuel falsehoods, including by Trump about water management," Jan. 10, 2025

X post (archived), Jan. 9, 2025

X post (archived), Jan 12, 2025

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