While Los Angeles continues to burn due to a series of out-of-control wildfires, the city’s fire department has come under fire for its obsession with diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
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As RedState reported, despite suffering staffing and financial difficulties, LAFD Fire Chief Kristen Crowley, celebrated as the “first LGBTQ+” person to hold the position, decided to spend millions of dollars on the creation of a “DEI bureau” to help combat the “crisis” of there not being enough women and gay people within the department.
SEE: Los Angeles’ Fire Chief is a DEI-Obsessed ‘LGBTQ Woman’ Who Wasted Millions
To set the stage, here’s a bit of what she told a local news station after being appointed to the position.
CROWLEY: I am super inspired.
REPORTER: She took time out of her already busy schedule to tell us about her vision for the department’s future, one that includes a three-year strategic plan to increase diversity.
CROWLEY: People ask me, “Well, what, well, what number are you looking for?” I say, ” I’m not looking for a number. It’s never enough.”
REPORTER: Out of 3300 city firefighters, only 115 are women right now. She’s already looking for ways to change that. She’s quick to point out that doing so serves a greater purpose: Attracting the best and brightest for the job.
Believe it or not, it gets much worse. Enter a newly resurfaced video of now-Assistant Fire Chief and DEI Bureau head Kristine Larson. In it, she is seen claiming that people want to be rescued by somebody “that looks like you.” Be sure to watch until the end of the grand finale.
Before you hit play, I’ll give you a fair warning. This video is going to appear to be a parody due to just how absurd and insulting it is. Rest assured that it is real and that Larson was and remains employed by the LAFD.
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LARSON: You want to see somebody that responds to your house, your emergency whether it’s a medical emergency or a fire call, that looks like you. It gives that person a little bit more ease knowing that someone might understand their situation better.
Let me stop there for a second because this is a claim often made by DEI advocates. Instead of admitting they are just being discriminatory for personal gain, they want to paint a picture where DEI actually increases effectiveness. To be frank, that’s total bullcrap meant to protect the grift.
Ask yourself this: If you needed medical help or someone to rescue you from a fire, would you care at all what race or gender the person is that’s saving you? Of course, you wouldn’t because that’s not how any normal person responds. During an emergency, one’s adrenaline is pumping and all they care about is getting the immediate assistance they need.
Regardless, go ahead and buckle up because what Larson says next is simply mind-blowing.
LARSON: “Is she strong enough to do this, or you couldn’t carry my husband out of a fire,” to which my response is, “He got himself in the wrong place if I have to carry him out of a fire.”
Holy. Crap.
Has Larson ever considered that there are elderly and infirmed people who exist and can’t avoid getting themselves “in the wrong place” if a fire breaks out? Being quickly overwhelmed by smoke inhalation is also a thing. And isn’t rescuing people from fires the entire point of being a firefighter? I’m just at a loss that a top leader at the LAFD let those words come out of her mouth.
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These are the people currently leading the bungled response to the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles. Again, this is a department that saw its budget cut by $17.6 million in 2024, yet it has the money to have a DEI bureau. What does that say about the LAFD’s priorities?
To be clear, I’m not suggesting everyone within the LAFD is incompetent. I’m sure there are a lot of dedicated, career firefighters making far less money than Larson to do far more important things. There is no doubt, though, that part of the department’s problems have been driven by insane DEI initiatives that harm recruiting and waste money while doing nothing to improve readiness.
When Palisades first came under direct threat on Tuesday from the wildfires, the LAFD had already made numerous mistakes under the command of Crowley, Larson, and others. Every single one of them needs to be held accountable. They have turned a vital public service meant to fight fires into a social engineering experiment to increase “diversity.” That’s simply unacceptable.