Freddy Escobar, the president of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, broke down in tears when he blamed the fire department’s lack of money for its limited response to the catastrophic LA fires that ripped through towns, burned down businesses, and left thousands homeless earlier this year.
Escobar said he had warned “for years” that a disaster of such magnitude could happen and that more money was needed.
“This isn’t about one budget cycle. It’s not about a single mayor,” he told CNN. “This has been the case for decades. We have been speaking about it for years now. It’s sad it’s taken this natural disaster and tragedy to highlight what we have been saying for decades.”
At a city Fire Commission in February he stated: “It’s a damn shame, and excuse my language, that it took this incident, the Pacific Palisades, to finally bring attention to our grossly understaffed, underfunded Fire Department.”
But even as Escobar was denouncing reductions in workforce and budgets, he was pulling in more than $500,000 a year.
He had also helped secure four years of pay raises for the city’s 3,300 firefighters with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. He saved the cushiest carve-outs for himself and other top union leaders, a new report from the Los Angeles Times claimed. Most of the union’s top brass padded their paychecks with overtime on top of six-figure union stipends.
In 2022, the most recent year for which records of both his city and union earnings are available, Escobar made about $540,000.
He more than doubled his base salary of $184,034 with overtime payouts, earning more than $424,500 from the city in pay and benefits, the news outlet reported. He also collected a $115,962 stipend from the union. He claimed he worked 48 hours a week on union-related duties and also picked up 30 hours of overtime a week, which works out to roughly 78 hours each week.
The union is allowed to place its board members on full-time leave from their LAFD jobs while they still collect their regular salaries. The board members are allowed to pick up extra shifts outside their 40-hour union work week, getting paid time and a half. That’s exactly what Escobar did as union president, a position he has held since 2018. He has another two years left on his contract.
Escobar also had the highest union stipend and made the most in overtime among the board members eligible for the deal, wrote the Los Angeles Times, citing city and tax records. Just in overtime alone, he made $738,439 from 2018 to 2024.
In 2022, Escobar took about nine overtime shifts per month, usually overnights ranging from 12 to 16 hours. Sometimes, though, they were longer. They started on the weekends and ran for 24 hours, followed by two 16-hour shifts.
Including Escobar, UFLAC board members made nearly $750,000 in overtime in 2022, while each collected a union stipend ranging from $67,000 to Escobar’s $115,962. All board members received a stipend, regardless of whether they were on leave, the tax records show.
In 2022, LAFD employees, including firefighters, support staff, and other personnel, made $225 million in overtime. In comparison, the Los Angeles Police Department, which has more than triple the number of employees, spent about $214 million on overtime that year.
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Fire Department announced it had launched a “comprehensive review and overhaul” of tracking hours and reimbursement of those on leave for the union.
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“The Department has recognized the need for significant improvements to its accounting and timekeeping processes related to union release time,” the agency said.
The Washington Examiner has reached out to the firefighters’ union and Escobar for comment, but has not heard back.
