Tonight, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass under growing pressure. There is nothing, nothing, nothing that I will not do for the city where I was born and raised. Overnight, her office responding to rumors that the city's fire chief had been fired. Posting on social media, the fire chief was not dismissed and is in full command of the LAFD. Did we have enough resources? I will tell you no. That chief, Kristen Crowley, speaking out to NBC's Los Angeles station KNBC, Friday. This department was asked to take a $17 million budget. That is correct. She also told LA's Fox station that despite the city's growth, the number of fire stations has gone down. Crowley placing the blame for the current crisis squarely on the city. Did they fail you? Yes. Chief Crowley and Mayor Bass side by side at a press conference today. The fire chief and I are focused on fighting these fires and saving lives, and any differences that we might have will be worked out in private. Also to be worked out, the failure of fire hydrants in the region. There's two blocks down. There's a fire hydrant that's working just fine. The one two blocks above us is not.
Governor, I live here, governor. California governor, Gavin Newsom, confronted on the issue earlier this week. Is it going to be different next time? It has to be. Newsom now calling for an investigation into the lack of pressure in the hydrants. Frustration today mounting as people waited hours trying to gain access to their neighborhoods to see what, if anything, of their homes remains. All our friends have lost everything, and nobody knows what's going to happen. We're just walking around numb. And Ellison joins us live tonight. Ellison, I know tonight you're among the people still trying to get to their homes. What are people being told about access? Tom, it's just cars as far as you can see by eye. People tell us that they have been told it would be three cars going in at a time, escorted by police, and that the priority would be people needing to get medicine. But these people over here, they tell us they are all waiting to go get medicine, and they say they cannot get answers on when they can go up, if they're going to be able to go up. And some of them, Tom, they say they have been waiting nine hours.
Tom. Thanks for watching. Stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow us on social media.
There is growing anger and questions over the response to the wildfires. Los Angeles' Fire Chief even saying budget cuts lead to ...