LOS ANGELES, Jan 11 (Bernama-dpa) -- Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) chief Kristin Crowley on Friday said the city's administration let the LAFD down, as major wildfires continue to ravage the city, reported German news agency (dpa).
The US$17 million cut in the budget for the fire department is having a negative impact on her agency's ability to fight fires, Crowley complained in comments to broadcaster CNN.
"We can no longer sustain where we are. We do not have enough firefighters."
Crowley said she repeatedly tried to show city officials "how understaffed, under-resourced and underfunded the LAFD is", the fire chief told CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday afternoon.
The department has seen a 55 per cent increase in call volume since 2010, said Crowley, but the number of firefighters has been decreasing.
"Additional resources coming in will help us with this current disaster," Crowley said.
"But moving forward, that potential can happen anywhere in the entire city of Los Angeles, and we need to be fully funded and supported."
At least 11 people have died in the major wildfires that have torn across the Greater Los Angeles area in recent days, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said on Friday.
The victims counted by the medical examiner all died on Wednesday and Thursday. Six of them were killed in the Eaton Fire near Pasadena, and five others in the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades district. There have been several major fires in the region since Tuesday, but these two are the most severe.
-- BERNAMA-dpa
