The Fire Chief may or may not be a DEI hire. It sounds like she has a very good record and is well-qualified for her position. Even if she wasn't, she's not the reason that LA burned. LA burned because climate change combined with decades of short-sighted building construction in very vulnerable areas made this inevitable. And it will continue to happen again, and again, and again. People will not be able to rebuild because no one is going to insure properties in those areas anymore. Same thing with homes and buildings in hurricane-prone areas in our part of the country.
That said, when people like the LAFD Deputy Chief in question say things that are as horrifically stupid as what she said (on camera, in an interview no less), then there is a very valid complaint that can and should be raised at some of these practices. I'm all for increasing diversity and equity to better include underrepresented populations in professions that they are not well represented in. But the message being conveyed to the public should be "we're ensuring that everyone hired is fully capable of doing the job." It cannot be, "yeah, you are right that we are hiring people that we know can't perform adequately but that's a problem for the victims to worry about", which is what this person said.
