As raging wildfires burnt down more than 10,000 homes and buildings in the Los Angeles area with no relief in sight, reports have emerged claiming the county mayor, Karen Bass, rejected a help offer from the New York Fire Department. New York Post reported that New York City Fire Commissioner Robert Tucker had extended an offer “in recent days” to help battle the wildfires in the West Coast state. The report added that JetBlue Airlines had even offered to pay for the flights carrying “the city smoke-eaters” across the country from the Big Apple to Los Angeles.

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However, Bass rejected the offer saying fighting wildfires is “a whole different beast” that required special training and was much different from putting out flames in buildings, reported the Post quoting sources.

This response by the Los Angeles mayor is believed to have stunned observers.

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Los Angeles Fire Chief Anthony Marrone had said on Wednesday (Jan 8) that his forces were losing the battle as crews got overwhelmed.

“There are not enough firefighters in LA County to address four separate fires of this magnitude,” he had when four blazes were raging.

LA fire chief slammed city leadership for budget cuts

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Earlier, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kirstin Crowley had slammed the county leadership for cutting down budget of the fire department. During an interview, Crowley was asked whether Bass had failed the fire department to which she responded: “Yes.”

Also read: LA Wildfires: NFL, teams donate $5 million to help tackle inferno

 “We are screaming to be properly funded to make sure that our firefighters can do their jobs so that we can serve the community,” the fire chief was quoted as saying by KTTV news outlet.

Death toll rises to 11

The LA medical examiner’s office said on Saturday that the death toll in the deadly wildfires in southern California had risen to 11.

Five causalities occurred due to the Palisades fire, and the other six resulted from the Eaton fire, said officials. The death toll is expected to go up further as assessments of affected neighbourhoods continue

(With inputs from agencies)