Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley warned Mayor Karen Bass just weeks ago that the nearly $18 million slashed from the fire department’s budget would impact its response to emergencies like this week’s deadly wildfires.

“The reduction … has severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires,” Chief Kristin Crowley wrote in a memo on Dec. 4, 2024, NBC Los Angeles reported.

The budget, approved last year by Bass, cut mainly administrative jobs but also axed about $7 million from its overtime budget.

The overtime hours were used in part to pay for FAA-mandated pilot training and helicopter coordination staffing to prepare to fight wildfires, according to Crowley’s memo, which was presented to the Board of Fire Commissioners.

“Without this funding, pilot compliance and readiness are jeopardized, and aerial firefighting capabilities are diminished,” it read. “Changes to the Air Operations Section impact the Department’s ability to adhere to current automatic and mutual aid agreements, provide air ambulance service, and quickly respond to woodland fires with water dropping helicopters.”

The memo also said other programs would be crippled by the budget cuts, including the Disaster Response, which funds bulldozer teams that help contain wildfires, and the Critical Incident Planning and Training Section, which organizes response plans for major disasters.

Bass has faced scathing criticism in recent days after it emerged she’d cut the city’s fire department budget by $17.6 million ahead of this week’s devastating fires.

The cut was the second-largest in Bass’ 2024-25 fiscal budget, according to city figures.

The first term mayor, who was also blasted for traveling to Ghana as the wildfires ravaged her city, insisted late Wednesday that she was “confident” the budget cuts did not hinder LAFD’s response to the wildfires currently ravaging the region.

She also addressed her glaring overseas absence, claiming she did her best to return and help.

“I took the fastest route back, which included being on a military plane, which facilitated our communications,” Bass said. “So I was able to be on the phone the entire time of the flight.”

Earlier, footage went viral on social media of a stone-faced Bass refusing to answer questions when she finally returned to the US to find her city up in flames.

“Do you owe citizens an apology for being absent while their homes were burning, and do you regret cutting the Fire Department budget by millions of dollars madame mayor?” Sky News reporter David Blevins asked as Bass was getting off her flight.

“Have you absolutely nothing to say to the citizens today?” he added.

It comes as firefighters on Thursday continued to battle the spate of out-of-control fires that have already killed five people, ravaged communities and sent thousands of people frantically fleeing their homes.