Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
L.A. Firefighters Who Responded To Harvey In Texas Now Headed To Alabama For Hurricane Irma
LAFD members in Texas. (Photo courtesy of @LAFDTalk via Twitter)
()
By Alex Martinez
More than 70 members of the Los Angeles Fire Department who were deployed to Texas to assist with Hurricane Harvey response efforts will now head to Alabama to prepare for Hurricane Irma.
The team includes medical doctors, K-9 handlers, water rescue specialists, and urban search and rescue, according to a statement released Wednesday by the Los Angeles Fire Department. The crew is part of a Federal Emergency Management Agency Urban Search & Rescue Task Force.
“These LAFD members are true ambassadors across the nation in times of great need,” said LAFD Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas in the statement. “ It is a testament to the effectiveness of our Department that we can handle one of the City’s largest brush fires while still supporting a deployed FEMA team, 11 members individually assigned to brush fires across the West, and answering more than 1,300 calls for service we receive every day.”
Support for LAist comes from
Hurricane Irma was described by The Weather Company as a “potentially catastrophic Category 5 hurricane.” As of Wednesday evening, the center of Irma was located around 50 miles north of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The crew arrived in Texas early last week and conducted rescue and recovery operations in communities southwest of Houston. With other FEMA teams they rescued residents, pets, and livestock from communities inundated by the hurricane, the fire department said.
They were discharged from Harvey on Tuesday and were ordered by FEMA on Wednesday to re-route to Montgomery, Alabama, where they will stage in preparation for any damages caused by Hurricane Irma.
The team is expected to arrive in Alabama by midnight on September 7. “The team is rested, in good spirits and prepared to continue helping those in need,” according to the statement.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity. -
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
-
With California voters facing a decision on redistricting this November, Surf City is poised to join the brewing battle over Congressional voting districts.
-
The drug dealer, the last of five defendants to plead guilty to federal charges linked to the 'Friends' actor’s death, will face a maximum sentence of 65 years in prison.
-
The weather’s been a little different lately, with humidity, isolated rain and wind gusts throughout much of Southern California. What’s causing the late-summer bout of gray?
Best of LAist