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Austin Fire Chief Who Refused To Deploy Rescue Boats For Flood Victims Was A DEI Hire
The Federalist ^ | 23 Jul, 2025 | Auguste Meyrat

Posted on 07/23/2025 6:48:41 AM PDT by MtnClimber

Not only will DEI gradually destroy a critical institution of public safety, but at some point it will also destroy the lives that the institution is charged to protect.

Similar to the flood itself, the tragedy of the high waters sweeping through the Central Texas Hill Country has violently ebbed and flowed from the public consciousness. At the last count, the death toll has reached 135 souls, at least a dozen of them little girls at a Christian camp.

True to the spirit of the times, the disaster soon degenerated into yet another game of partisan mudslinging.

Of course, leftists immediately blamed DOGE cuts to disaster relief and climate change, neither of which was true. As for those on the right, when they were not actively debunking these claims, most of them concluded that this was just one of those unavoidable evils that occur in a fallen world.

However, there happens to be more to this story that few people on either side seem to discuss. There actually was someone who could have intervened in time to save many of the victims: Austin’s Fire Department Chief Joel Baker.

According to a public comment from the Austin Firefighters Association (AFA), Chief Baker had several opportunities to “send life-saving swift water boat teams to pre-deploy to Kerrville during devastating flooding” but decided against this out of a “misguided attempt to save money.” Evidently, he didn’t understand that “the fire department is fully reimbursed by the state to deploy,” even when someone explained “this very simple concept” to him. As such, the AFA overwhelmingly affirmed a vote of no confidence in Baker.

The Austin Fire Department (AFD) spokesmen had little to say in response to this except that it was a difficult situation: “The decision about how to allocate resources to help our fellow Texans is not a simple one. It requires communication from public safety partners on the ground to ensure we are providing resources and personnel when, where and how they are most needed.”

Just to be clear, people in the AFD were aware of the potential of flooding in the Hill Country just west of the city (as there often is) and could have easily sent out rescue teams beforehand. But, from all available evidence, Chief Baker was too stupid to realize that he could have authorized the deployments and been reimbursed for it.

This prompts the question of how someone as incompetent as Chief Baker was hired to be the fire chief of one of Texas’ largest and fastest-growing cities in the first place. By now, the question answers itself: He was a DEI hire who would implement DEI-driven policies in the city’s fire department. According to a report from The Blaze, Baker was “touted as Austin’s ‘first African-American fire chief,’” and had “prioritized diversity and increasing the number of ‘minority applicants.’” Before leading the AFD, ”Baker spent three decades with the Atlanta Fire Rescue Department in Georgia, where he grew up.”

Were there not other seasoned candidates for fire chief who were actually from the area who could have done this job far better? The probable answer is that there were, but they weren’t black and didn’t signal their preference for diversifying the department. In all likelihood, they were probably interested in less politically important concerns like keeping people safe from fires and floods.....SNIP


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: austinflood; blacksupremacy; flood; leftism; texas; texasflood

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1 posted on 07/23/2025 6:48:41 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

The thing is always the revolution.


2 posted on 07/23/2025 6:49:20 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

Shocking


3 posted on 07/23/2025 6:49:26 AM PDT by Amagi (Lenin: "Socialized Medicine is the Keystone to the Arch of the Socialist State.")
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To: MtnClimber

Austin. Probably had a thing against those white peoples.


4 posted on 07/23/2025 6:49:36 AM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Barry Soetoro has got to go! He's nothing but a racist agitator although he's only half black.)
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To: MtnClimber

“Austin Fire Chief Who Refused To Deploy Rescue Boats For Flood Victims Was A DEI Hire”

No surprise there.


5 posted on 07/23/2025 6:51:33 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: SmokingJoe

like the police chief in NOLA when that Muslim drove into a crowd. They are all unqualified.


6 posted on 07/23/2025 6:52:53 AM PDT by pawpawrick (I had a life once but my job ate it)
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To: MtnClimber

“The decision about how to allocate resources to help our fellow Texans is not a simple one. It requires communication from public safety partners on the ground to ensure we are providing resources and personnel when, where and how they are most needed.”

Weasel words if Ive ever heard them.


7 posted on 07/23/2025 6:52:59 AM PDT by Seruzawa ("The Political left is the Garden of Eden of incompetence" - Marx the Smarter (Groucho))
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To: MtnClimber
e was a DEI hire who would implement DEI-driven policies in the city’s fire department. According to a report from The Blaze, Baker was “touted as Austin’s ‘first African-American fire chief,’” and had “prioritized diversity and increasing the number of ‘minority applicants.’”

This is happening in most cities. The Albany NY (state capital) Police chief was a DEI hire. Working closely with the progressive sanctuary city Dem mayor - crime has skyrocketed as expected. This is repeated across the country.

8 posted on 07/23/2025 6:53:29 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: FlingWingFlyer

Keeping Austin Weird


9 posted on 07/23/2025 6:54:06 AM PDT by xp38
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To: MtnClimber

Why is this guy still on the job?


10 posted on 07/23/2025 6:55:27 AM PDT by HANG THE EXPENSE (Life's tough.It's tougher when you're stupid.)
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To: MtnClimber

I have personal experience working with DEI hires who were my supervisors. They were completely incompetent and embarrassments to the department. Fortunately, there were enough of us who knew what their limitations were and how to handle them that we were able to avoid loss of life in challenging situations.

These were people who were hired and promoted during a period of time when there was a big push for rectifying perceived past discrimination by politicians who had come into power in our municipality.


11 posted on 07/23/2025 6:57:19 AM PDT by fireman15
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To: MtnClimber

Duh


12 posted on 07/23/2025 6:57:48 AM PDT by albie
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To: MtnClimber

You can tell by looking at the boob he doesn’t have brains God gave a goose


13 posted on 07/23/2025 6:58:30 AM PDT by albie
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To: SmokingJoe

A truly tragic case showing that DEI=DIE!


14 posted on 07/23/2025 6:58:47 AM PDT by milagro (There is no peace in appeasement! ThereonMaube)
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To: pawpawrick

Yes.


15 posted on 07/23/2025 7:02:24 AM PDT by SmokingJoe
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To: HANG THE EXPENSE

Because he has a DEI boss of course.


16 posted on 07/23/2025 7:04:51 AM PDT by Licensed-To-Carry (John 14:6 Romans 10:9 Hebrews 9:27)
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To: MtnClimber
The whole reason to have an emergency response agency like a fire department is to have them respond to emergencies. As in "drop everything and run toward the alarm bells".

DEI or not, this guy is just another LIFER (if you need to know what the acronym means, the first two words are "Lazy Idiotic" and the last two words are "Expecting Retirement".

At best, this guy is qualified to be in charge of the mops and brooms at a local DMV location.

17 posted on 07/23/2025 7:05:03 AM PDT by Bernard (Issue an annual budget. And Issue a federal government balance sheet. Let's see what we got.)
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To: MtnClimber

Instead of using “DEI”, why not just go ahead and use “RACIST”??????


18 posted on 07/23/2025 7:05:57 AM PDT by JBW1949 (I'm really PC.....Patriotically Correct)
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To: MtnClimber

The guy looks confused just setting there.


19 posted on 07/23/2025 7:06:09 AM PDT by Delta 21 (None of us are descendants of fearful men!)
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To: MtnClimber

BTTT


20 posted on 07/23/2025 7:06:17 AM PDT by nopardons
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