Tax-paying citizens expecting public workers—like firefighters—to help keep them safe is reasonable. This is especially true in a crisis, as in a blazing fire.
For this reason, watching ferocious flames devour whole blocks in Southern California has been positively heart-stopping. Many people have lost everything they owned. Some have suffered grave injuries, and over twenty have died. In light of this wreckage, Christians should pray for Californians and compassionately mourn with those who mourn (Romans 12:15).
But our grieving does not shut off our brains. While no local government can prevent such calamities, the California crisis has not come in a vacuum. Their leftist government has made many decisions in recent years that have collectively left its citizens in grave danger.
- Governor Gavin Newsom’s June 2024 budget cut $101 million from firefighting efforts while pushing through “Green New Deal” initiatives totaling over $14 billion in recent years.
- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass slashed $17.6 million from the LAFD in the city’s 2024 budget.
- “Environmentalist” groups have successfully prevented the government from burning brush across the state, making forests equivalent to tinderboxes ready to explode.
- Forced vaccination policies caused dozens of firefighters to resign rather than be mandated to take a vaccine.
- DEI hiring policies have prioritized “equity” over fitness for the job, with millions of dollars funding bankrupt woke policies that have resulted in a less safe state.
As an illustration of the last factor, Kristine Larson (LAFD assistant chief) recently said in a video championing California’s woke “equity” hiring policies, “Am I able to carry your husband out of a fire? He got himself in the wrong place if I have to carry him out.”1 Larson’s comment communicated this shocking message to residents: if you want safety more than we want gender equity, you’re wrong.
Wokeness, it is clear, has made California profoundly unsafe. We lament this, even as we pray for change there. Christians in The Golden State should reclaim their identity as “salt and light” (Matthew 5:13-16) and seek new leaders at every level of government.
The darkness in California is great. The suffering is staggering. But there is hope. Truth is not lost, democracy is not canceled, and Jesus is on His throne. In these sad hours, we pray for a renewal of California in days to come and for many believers to rise and rebuild as in the days of Nehemiah.
1. Monica Sager, “LAFD Deputy Chief Faces Backlash for Past Remarks on Fire Victims,” Newsweek, January 2025, https://www.newsweek.com/lafd-deputy-chief-faces-backlash-past-remarks-fire-victims-2013351