Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has ousted fire chief Kristin Crowley, blasting her response to January’s devastating wildfires, dramatically culminating weekslong blame-game between the two.
The firing comes a day after Bass said the city’s fire officials were to blame for her lack of preparedness and availability during the blazes.
Bass – who herself was in Africa when the fires broke out early January – ripped Crowley for not holding personnel in reserve despite emergency-level fire conditions before the Palisades and Eaton Fires.
“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,” the mayor said in a statement Friday.
“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,” Bass continued.
Ronnie Villanueva, a 41-year veteran of the department, has been named interim fire chief until a permanent replacement is found.
Crowley was called in for a closed-door meeting with the mayor after saying days after the fires ignited that Bass was at fault for the rapid spread of the wildfires.
“We are screaming to be properly funded to make sure that our firefighters can do their jobs so that we can serve the community,” Crowley had said.
Bass, Crowley, and Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom have all faced relentless criticism from the moment the Palisades and Eaton fires ignited on Jan. 7th, incinerating tens of thousands of homes and becoming the most expensive wildfires in California history.
Among their sharpest critics was former water and power commissioner Rick Caruso, who dragged the mayor for defending the fire department and allowing fire hydrants in several burning neighborhoods to run dry on her watch.
He also bashed her for slashing the fire department budget just a few months before the blazes.
Caruso said Bass, not Crowley, bears the blame.
“It is very disappointing that Mayor Bass has decided to fire Chief Kristin Crowley. 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,” he said in a statement.
The cuts in question include nearly $18 million slashed from the FY 2024-2025 budget – down from the $23 million she initially asked for.
But Crowley – who was appointed in 2022 – has also been dragged, both from without and within: Last month, a former longtime fire administrator named Crowley in a lawsuit against the department, claiming Crowley gave her the axe after she caught the chief and another top official in egregious financial misconduct.
The plaintiff, Jenny Park, an employee of more than 10 years and the department’s highest-ranking Asian staffer, said Crowley ran the department like a personal clubhouse, doling out favors to those she liked and making life hell for anyone who didn’t suck up to her.
But the rot within the LAFD started long before Crowley.
The man Crowley replaced was Ralph Terrazas, who resigned in disgrace amid multiple allegations and lawsuits alleging a culture of discrimination, sexism, and sexual harassment within the department.
A few years before that, the head of the Fire Prevention Bureau – in charge of clearing accumulated brush that can spark wildfires – also resigned after his staff was caught faking inspections and allowing thousands of buildings to go uninspected.
To right the ship, the city appointed Crowley – LAFD’s first female and first lesbian fire chief – and a new diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officer Kristine Larson, who once blamed men trapped in fires for getting themselves into trouble.
Apparently, they were not enough to quench the flames within the LAFD.
