Fix The City Releases Los Angeles County Fire Department Response Data

Fix The City’s public records request and statistical analysis of LAFD records resulted in the disclosure of faulty response time data at that agency.

Fix The City has now released an initial analysis as well as raw data for the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The release of the data follows a months‐long effort to obtain the data from the County. Raw data can be found on here. (All huge files – 100MB+): 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

Our initial analysis shows that hillside areas often have on‐scene times in excess of 300 seconds.

Buried in LACOFD reports are some hints as to why the response times are lagging.

The report states: “While demand for Department services continues to increase, it is met with unfunded mandates from federal and state laws and programs creating additional budgetary pressure.”

 It goes on to say: “Negative press, legal battles and state political machinery, labor/management challenges…are all potential issues for the department.”

Most tellingly, the note from the Fire Chief states: “Although our budget is $900 million, due to the decrease in tax valuation, we have lost significant revenue since 2008.  Currently, we have implemented over $50 million per fiscal year in curtailments, and have had to delay essential infrastructure needs.”

Fix The City believes that public safety is Job 1 of government and that the infrastructure has been neglected for far too long.