When tragedy struck Kerrville, Texas, swift water rescue teams could have made the difference between life and death. But thanks to Austin’s DEI-obsessed Fire Chief, they never got the chance.

Austin Fire Chief Joel Baker, celebrated by city leaders as the capital’s first Black fire chief and praised for pushing “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in hiring, is now facing a vote of no confidence from his own firefighters. And the reason is both infuriating and heartbreaking.

According to the Austin Firefighters Association, Chief Baker refused to pre-deploy rescue teams to Kerrville in the days leading up to the historic flooding—despite official state deployment orders arriving as early as July 2. The excuse? He wanted to “save money.”

But here’s the kicker: Texas fully reimburses departments for these emergency deployments. There would’ve been no cost to Austin taxpayers.

“I explained the reimbursement process to Chief Baker last week,” the union said, “and he failed to understand this very simple concept.”

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