Bill Maher returned from hiatus with a furious monologue attacking the LA Fire Department leadership for how they handled the city’s disastrous wildfires. 

Of the 30 wildfires, which have killed at least 25 people, two of the largest remain active.

Maher spent much of Friday night’s Real Time season premiere angry with how the city had handled the blazes and in his ‘New Rules’ segment, asked: ‘Look me in the eye and tell me how anybody could’ve done worse?’

‘We got our a** kicked by fire, something neanderthals fought to a tie,’ he quipped. 

The liberal comedian then questioned the fire department’s commitment to DEI policies. 

‘The good news is, our fire chief is a lesbian,’ he said sarcastically, referring to LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley.

‘Am I against a lesbian being chief? Of course not. Do I think a lesbian can do the job? Of course I do and maybe she’s the best person,’ he said, before dropping the hammer.

‘Or maybe they really wanted a lesbian in the job and maybe she’s the best lesbian for the job and with essential services, that is not enough.’

Maher specifically cited a portion of Crowley’s bio that her ‘highest priority’ is being devoted to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, or DEI.

‘It’s telling that ‘diversity’ is mentioned twice before we get to ‘while’… ‘while striving to meet expectations,’ he noted of her bio. 

He then took a shot at a public relations video that re-emerged from 2019 of Deputy Chief Kristine Larson – who heads the Equity and Human Rights Bureau – defending the fire department’s use of DEI hiring practices. 

‘You want to see someone that responds to your house, to your emergency – whether it’s a medical call or a fire call – that looks like you,’ she said in the clip.

Maher responded: ‘Which would sound kinda’ racist if a southern sheriff said it!’

‘So we should be sending white firefighters to white houses and black ones to… who teaches people this bulls***? No one cares what someone looks like when they’re pulling you out of a burning house!’ 

He then attacked Larson for addressing concerns that female firefighters may not be strong enough to carry a man out of a burning building, to which she simply responded: ‘He got himself in the wrong place if I have to carry him out of a fire.’ 

‘Well, tell that to these guys,’ he said, showing videos of firefighters on the ground who were ‘paying the price’ for the failure of essential services. 

‘Now, is wokeness the main reason for the fires? Of course not. But it’s also not wrong to associate some of the unforced errors our government made with the things normies see as hallmarks of uber-progressive politics,’ Maher continued.

He cited ‘questionable budget priorities, high taxes that get you nothing, making everything about identity politics’ and ‘virtue signaling overseas instead of tending to the nuts and bolts at home.’ 

The last complaint was an apparent shot at Mayor Karen Bass, who was in Ghana attending the swearing in of the country’s first female vice president when the fires broke out.

He finished by calling for California to get back its common sense, joking that ‘wildfires in California are like boob jobs in a strip club: inevitable and they’re only get bigger.’ 

Furious Los Angelinos have blasted their mayor for traveling to Ghana while the city burns, despite having ample warning about ‘critical’ weather conditions in the days before.

Maher at one point in the show referred to Bass as the city’s ‘Nero,’ who famously fiddled while Rome burned.  

Earlier in the show, Maher interviewed Rick Caruso, who finished second to Bass in the 2022 mayoral race. 

Caruso would not announce or rule out challenging Bass again in 2026. 

‘There’s time for me to decide if I’m gonna run or not. I am just honored that I can at least help in some way,’ he said.

‘This problem is too big for politics and I’ve got zero patience for politics.’

Firefighters were said to be making progress on the biggest blazes Friday but tens of thousands remain under evacuation orders. 

Residents who have been returned to their homes are under a curfew from 6pm to 6am, according to the New York Times. 

Bass, Crowley and Governor Gavin Newsom have all faced calls to resign over their failure to act faster.