Cost-Cutting Directive May Have Delayed Serious Attention to Station Fire

What the Station Fire looked like on its second day from La Canada (more photos here) | Photo by Tom Andrews/LAist

Sometimes cutting the budget to public safety departments can cost you more in the long run. Case in point, the Station Fire, which lasted months and charred some 250 square miles. On day two of the blaze, when it was still relatively small, the Forest Service may have not ordered more state and local resources because of a directive to reduce spending, according to the LA Times.

That ended up being a costly mistake, both in money, but also in lives and property: two firefighters died and more than 200 buildings, many of them homes, were destroyed.