Calif: Karen Bass Ousts LAFP Fire Chief After Historic L.A. Fires
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced that LAFD Fire Chief Kristin
Crowley has been fired “in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public
safety.”
“Acting in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety, and for
the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed
Kristin Crowley as Fire Chief. We know that 1,000 firefighters that
could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead
sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch,” Bass stated.
“Furthermore, a necessary step to an investigation was the President
of the Fire Commission telling Chief Crowley to do an after action
report on the fires. The Chief refused. These require her removal. The
heroism of our firefighters – during the Palisades fire and every single
day – is without question. Bringing new leadership to the fire
department is what our city needs.”
Acting
in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety, and for the
operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed Kristin
Crowley as Fire Chief.
1,000 firefighters were sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch the day the fires broke out.
The announcement follows after Crowley criticized Bass for the lack
of funding towards the fire department, leading to the “lackluster
response” to multiple Los Angeles wildfires in January.
“Any budget cut is going to impact our ability to provide service,”
Crowley stated at the time, essentially throwing Bass under the bus.
“That is a ground truth in regard to our ability. If there’s a budget
cut, we had to pull from somewhere else. What does that mean? That
doesn’t get done or that there are delays.”
“Since day one, we’ve identified huge gaps in regard to our service
delivery and our ability of our firefighters’ boots on the ground to do
their jobs since day one,” she continued. “This is my third budget as
we’re going into 2025-2026, and what I can tell you is we are still
understaffed, we’re still under-resourced and we’re still underfunded.”
Mayor Bass appointed former Chief Deputy Ronnie Villanueva as the
interim fire chief. Villanueva has 41 years of experience in the Los
Angeles Fire Department.
The finger pointing between the two city officials began after Bass
was in Ghana for an overseas trip, later blaming Crowley for not warning
her and “stopping her” from leaving in advance of the fierce winds —
which mostly prompted the Palisades and Eaton fires, in addition to
arson.
Despite Bass’ claim that she was not informed, the LAFD argued that
they “emailed two separate media advisories, conducted multiple live and
recorded media interviews about the predicted extreme fire weather, and
notified City Officials.”
Bass herself has also admitted that it was a mistake to go on the trip to Ghana during an interview with an NBC affiliate, stating: “Yeah, absolutely… There is no question about that.”
Meanwhile, city Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez responded to the firing, expressing that she was “outraged.”
“I am outraged by the scapegoating revealed by the Mayor’s actions,”
Rodriguez stated. “I plan to use my authority as a Councilmember to set
the record straight and encourage Chief Crowley to appeal the Mayor’s
baseball termination to the City Council. The public deserves a full
account of every single leadership failure that has taken place.”
Republican businessman Rick Caruso, who previously ran against Bass, similarly expressed his disappointment in the firing.
“It is very disappointing that Mayor Bass has decided to fire Chief
Kristin Crowley,” he wrote in an X post. “Chief Crowley served Los
Angeles well and spoke honestly about the severe and profoundly
ill-conceived budget cuts the Bass administration made to the LAFD. That
courage to speak the truth was brave, and I admire her. Honesty in a
high city official should not be a firing offense. The Mayor’s decision
to ignore the warnings and leave the city was hers alone. This is a time
for city leaders to take responsibility for their actions and their
decisions. We need real leadership, not more blame passing.”
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