Claims of responsibility for 26 billion cuts in fire budget...L.A. Market Rebuttal

The mayor of L.A. refuted criticism that the city government's fire budget cuts had increased the damage amid wildfires spreading out of control in the Los Angeles area.

CNBC approved LA Mayor Karen Bath's plan to cut the fire department's budget by $17.8 million and about 25.9 billion won at the end of last year.

Most of the reduced budget is related to the reduction of management positions in the fire department, but the budget for overtime allowances allocated for firefighter training and fire prevention activities was also cut by $7 million and about 10.2 billion won.

The fire department expressed concern that its fire response capacity could be curtailed, but criticism of the mayor of Bath has grown after the cuts were found to have been enforced.

Responding to criticism that the fire-fighting budget cuts may have affected the wildfires, Mayor Bath said, "I'm sure they're not."