LA firefighters forced to beg voters for basics as homeless spending soars: ‘Difference between life and death’

LA firefighters are being forced to go begging to voters for money to provide what they call basic services — as the city keeps pouring staggering sums into its flailing homelessness programs.

Firefighters this week resorted to starting petition drives to try to get a proposition on the November 2026 ballot for a half-cent sales-tax boost as part of a last-ditch bid to pay for more vehicles and employees and to fix crumbling fire stations.

The humiliating dire situation is shameful when compared to how easily local pols open taxpayers’ wallets to shell out hordes more dough for the homeless — who are even behind a local surge in blazes, fire-department supporters said.

The city now spends roughly $1 billion a year on its homelessness programs.

With about 45,000 unhoused people, that works out to more than $22,000 per person a year.

By comparison, LA’s fire department operates on about $923 million to protect nearly 3.9 million residents — or roughly $238 per resident.

“Due to decades of underinvestment, our fire department currently operates with the same number of firefighters as in the 1960s, six fewer stations, and five times the call load,” said Rich Ramirez, an LAFD paramedic, to The Post.

“The LAFD is half the size needed to keep LA safe, so your LAFD firefighters and paramedics are appealing directly to voters to provide funding for more personnel, equipment, and stations so that we can arrive on time to save lives and property when seconds can make the difference between life and death.”

City Councilwoman Traci Park, who represents the Westside and has been leading efforts to help Pacific Palisades rebuild after a devastating fire, said City Hall has ignored repeated warnings for years — long before flames tore through the coastal community.

“We have million-dollar fire engines out of service with weeds growing around their tires,” she said, explaining that the department doesn’t even have enough mechanics to keep its fleet operational.

“I’ve been blowing the whistle on the lack of staffing, funding and resources at the fire department since I took office.”

She pointed to a December 2024 appearance before the Fire Commission where she warned Los Angeles was unprepared for a major emergency.

 The next month, the region suffered two of its deadliest, most destructive and costly wildfires ever.

“In some cases, response times are double the national standard, and we need at least 62 stations just to meet demand,” she said of LA’s fire-fighting.

The situation has led to the proposed proposition, which means the men and women who run into burning buildings are now spending their off-duty hours collecting signatures, hiring consultants and digging into their own pockets, $250,000 so far, just to get the measure before voters.

It also comes as LA firefighters’ workload has exploded.

In 1960, firefighters responded to about 101,000 calls a year. Today, they respond to more than 514,000 calls annually, five times the volume, with essentially the same number of firefighters Los Angeles had in 1965.

Homelessness is a major force behind the surge in fires — and the numbers are stark.

Between 2018 and 2024, fires linked to people experiencing homelessness made up 33 percent of all LAFD fire incidents — nearly one out of every three calls handled by firefighters.

The fastest-growing fire category tells the story. Rubbish — or trash fires, have exploded, rising 475% over the past decade — from 5,541 incidents in 2014 to 31,964 in 2024.  

As for staffing, the city has just 0.88 firefighters per 1,000 residents, about half the national recommendation. Average response times now hover near eight minutes, almost double the standard.

Firefighters say decades of neglect have pushed the department to a breaking point.

The proposed half-cent sales tax would raise an estimated $324 million in its first year, pushing Los Angeles’ sales tax rate to 10.25 percent, in line with many neighboring cities. 

To qualify the measure, they must gather 154,000 voter signatures within the next 180 days. 

The measure comes with hard guardrails: every dollar is restricted to core fire services — hiring firefighters, building and staffing stations, and buying engines and equipment. The money would be locked into a dedicated fire fund, subject to annual public audits, overseen by a civilian commission, and protected by a maintenance-of-effort rule to stop City Hall from quietly swapping out existing fire dollars.