Mayor Suspends LAFD's Modified Coverage Plan
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — The Los Angeles Fire Department is operating at full capacity after Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa suspended part of a cost-cutting measure that limited the number of available fire trucks and ambulances.
The suspension of the Modified Coverage Plan will last only through the peak months of brush fire season, Villaraigosa said.
The Fire Department began operating with 15 fewer fire trucks and nine fewer ambulances than normal in August 2009 to reduce the city's budget deficit by $39 million.
Villaraigosa allowed Fire Chief Millage Peaks to reassign firefighters who perform administrative duties and put them back into the field, allowing the department to put the 15 fire trucks back in service.
However, the mayor did not restore the services of the nine ambulances.
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