There's a lot of blame going around right now regarding the wildfires that ravaged California for the first half of January.

Some of it is "climate change" malarkey and other criticisms are valid, including the gross mismanagement of forests and water sources and, according to the LA Fire Union president, the consequences of understaffing the fire agency.

According to the New York Post, just last year, Freddy Escobar, president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, warned that understaffing within the ranks of the LA Fire Department would result in people dying, and he was unfortunately proven correct. 

The fire union president broke down in tears during a CNN interview when mentioning that he issued the dire warnings last year.

What's going on?

Only last month, Escobar told LA city officials that understaffing in the department was "dire" and added that "someone will die" if the warnings go unheeded.

"This is a woefully understaffed fire department," Escobar said after becoming understandably emotional over the situation. "We’re either going to have a fire department that’s going to reflect 2025, or we’re going to have a fire department that’s going to reflect the 1960s."

He walked away from the camera while talking to a CNN correspondent about the situation, saying, "You’re not supposed to make me cry."

LA Fire Union Chief Freddy Escobar breaks down in tears on camera in the aftermath of the devastating fires after having warned the city that the lack of staff and funding would lead to people dying.

LA leadership had been warned and they still cut millions from the LAFD budget.… pic.twitter.com/7vjkMvLaML

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 16, 2025

The NY Post noted:

This short-staffing problem has been a long-term issue for the LAFD, according to Escobar, who had been warning for years of the persistent issue.

Last year, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley noted her own concerns stating that the fire department’s levels were half the size that it should be based on standards laid out by the National Fire Protection Association, according to CNN.

The understaffing was made even worse by LA Mayor Karen Bass' efforts that resulted in slashing the fire department's budget, causing a long list of other issues that ultimately resulted in what has played out over the past several weeks.

For one pitiful example, due to Bass' budget cuts, millions of dollars worth of fire equipment sits unusable in parking lots because the city can't afford the mechanics to fix them. Undoubtedly, that equipment would have been life-saving in this devastating fire event.

Social media reaction

Users across social media reacted to the fire union president's emotional moment.

"This is terrible. Mayor Bass needs to resign," one X user wrote.

Another X user wrote, "It's terrible.. Gavin Newsom and the DEI mayor must resign."