Exclusive | Furious LA firefighters take rarely seen step in fight against Karen Bass: 'Domino effect'

Firefighters in Los Angeles say the department is strained by marathon shifts, missing paychecks, and rising emergency risks while city funding remains flat. They report increasing response times and a surge in callouts, with City Hall refusing to provide urgently needed cash. Crews claim they must stay on duty without relief, moving through multiple high-intensity emergencies in a single 24-hour period. Some describe tours extending to 48 hours or more, with mandated overtime keeping some on duty up to 120 hours. Firefighters also report payroll problems lasting for years, leading to grievances, arbitration, and lawsuits over thousands of dollars in owed regular pay. They are pooling more than $1 million to support a sales tax measure aimed at covering basic operating needs.

"“We don't have relief. We can't just shut something down and tell residents no one is coming. So you stay. ” You can go from doing CPR on a child to a traffic crash, cutting someone out of a car, then straight to a drowning. That all happens in a single 24-hour shift."

"“You think you're going home, and they tell you you're staying. You miss birthdays, you miss your family.” Even as overtime piles up, some firefighters say they are still fighting just to be paid, with missed checks and delayed wages adding up to hundreds of thousands of dollars for crew members."

"“We've filed grievances, gone to arbitration, and now we're in lawsuits,” Ramirez said. “People are owed thousands of dollars. This is regular pay.” Coates said the payroll problems have dragged on for years. He said: “The worst thing you can do is not pay your firefighters correctly. And that's happening.”"

"Fire crews are now pooling together more than $1 million of their own cash to push for a sales tax measure they claim would cover just the basics to keep the department running. They warned response times are climbing and emergency callouts are exploding but City Hall was refusing to pump in desperately needed cash."

Read at California Post