Six weeks after the most destructive wildfire in city history, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ousted the city’s fire chief Friday amid a public rift over preparations for a potential fire and finger-pointing between the chief and City Hall over responsibility for the devastation.
Bass said in a statement that she is removing Chief Kristin Crowley immediately.
“Bringing new leadership to the Fire Department is what our city needs,” Bass said in a statement.
“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 disclosed. She added that the chief refused a request to prepare an “after-action report” on the fires, which she called a necessary step in the investigation.
The Palisades Fire began during heavy winds Jan. 7, destroying or damaging nearly 8,000 homes, businesses and other structures and killing at least 12 people in the Los Angeles neighborhood.
Another wind-whipped fire started the same day in suburban Altadena, a community to the east, killing at least 17 people and destroying or damaging more than 10,000 homes and other buildings.
Bass has been facing criticism for being in Africa as part of a presidential delegation on the day the fires started, even though weather reports had warned of dangerous fire conditions in the days before she left.
In televised interviews this week, Bass acknowledged she made a mistake by leaving the city. But she inferred she wasn’t aware of the looming danger when she flew around the globe to attend the inauguration of Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama. She faulted Crowley for failing to alert her to the potentially explosive fire conditions.
Crowley has publicly criticized the city for budget cuts that she said made it harder for firefighters to do their jobs.
Crowley was named fire chief in 2022 by Bass’ predecessor at a time when the department was in turmoil over allegations of rampant harassment, hazing and discrimination. She worked for the city fire department for more than 25 years and held nearly every role, including fire marshal, engineer and battalion chief.
