Bass ousts L.A. fire chief, saying LAFD needs new leadership
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ousted Fire Chief Kristin Crowley over her handling of the Palisades fire Friday, adding to the turmoil that has enveloped City Hall.
Bass took that step after publicly ramping up criticism of Crowley in recent days, complaining that she had not heard from the chief until after the fire broke out, while also questioning the chief’s deployment decisions.
“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 said in a statement Friday announcing Crowley’s firing.
The mayor also alleged that the chief had refused to participate in an after-action report on the fires after being asked to do so by Fire Commission President Genethia Hudley Hayes, a Bass appointee.
A Times investigation found that LAFD officials chose not to order roughly 1,000 firefighters to remain on duty for a second shift as winds were building — which would have doubled the personnel on hand when the Palisades fire broke out the morning of Jan. 7.
Fire officials staffed just five of more than 40 engines that are available to aid in battling wildfires, The Times found.
The toll might not have been as bad if extra engines had been pre-positioned much closer to the most fire-prone areas, former fire chiefs said.
Another Times investigation found that the LAFD could have sent at least 10 additional engines to the Palisades before the fire — engines that could have been on patrol along the hillsides and canyons and potentially put out the fire when it was still small.
Crowley did not immediately respond to a request for comment about her dismissal. LAFD spokesperson Erik Scott said the department was “aware of the mayor’s announcement” and had “no further comments or interviews on this matter at this time.”
LAFD veteran Ronnie Villanueva will serve as interim chief. He retired seven months ago as chief deputy of emergency operations after 41 years with the department, according to the mayor’s office.
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Crowley’s dismissal drew immediate backlash from the firefighters union, whose leaders supported her last month when she spoke out about needing more city resources.
“Crowley is being made a scapegoat, and she’s being terminated for telling the truth,” said Freddy Escobar, president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112.
Escobar disputed Bass’ rationale for firing Crowley, saying that an outside investigation into the fire is already underway. He also asserted that the department lacks a sufficient number of trucks and engines for the 1,000 firefighters who were sent home hours before the fire started.
But several former LAFD chief officers told The Times that keeping the firefighters on duty would have enabled the department to send dozens of extra engines to the Palisades and other high-risk areas. And firefighters not assigned to the additional engines would have been available for other tasks.
Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, whose northeast San Fernando Valley district has experienced major hillside fires in recent years, also slammed Bass’ decision. She said she plans to use her authority as a council member to “set the record straight” — while seeking to overturn Crowley’s dismissal through a City Council vote.
Employee raises and other expenses are expanding the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget. At the same time, the agency has had to scale back operations in recent months.
Such a strategy would be an extremely steep challenge — requiring a two-thirds majority on the 15-member council — but not impossible.
Rodriguez accused Bass of removing Crowley to deflect criticism for being in Ghana when the fire erupted, destroying nearly 7,000 homes and other structures and killing at least 12.
“On Jan. 7, she was praising the fire chief and her response,” Rodriguez said in an interview. “And then it appears, as the heat kicked up [over] her absence, she continued to try and attribute blame to someone else.”
Rodriguez, who has been the mayor’s most vocal critic on the council, said the public deserves “a full account of every single leadership failure that has taken place.”
Crowley’s ouster, coming six weeks after the Palisades fire, adds to the disarray that has roiled City Hall, and the mayor’s administration in particular. Bass has been facing questions not just about the city’s preparation for the hurricane-force winds and accompanying wildfire, but also her management of the crisis.
In recent weeks, Bass has had a strained relationship with Steve Soboroff, her recovery czar, and with county Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose district includes Pacific Palisades. Bass reversed course on a plan to reopen Pacific Palisades, following opposition from Councilmember Traci Park, who also represents the Palisades. And she backtracked on a plan to pay Soboroff $500,000 for 90 days of work, using funding from philanthropy. Soboroff is now working for free.
The tensions between Bass and Crowley date back to the initial days after the fire broke out.
Kristin Crowley, in multiple interviews, drew a connection between budget cuts to her department and the city’s struggle to combat the wildfires.
On Jan. 10, while the flames were still raging out of control, Crowley gave an extraordinary television interview, telling a Fox 11 reporter that the city of Los Angeles — and by implication her boss, Bass — had failed her and her department.
She went on to describe her agency as understaffed and underfunded, calling the situation “no longer sustainable.”
Later that day, Crowley had equally strong words for CNN’s Jake Tapper, telling him the Fire Department lacks enough mechanics to repair broken-down emergency vehicles.
When Tapper asked whether the city’s budget cuts affected her agency’s ability to fight the wildfires, she responded: “I want to be very, very clear. Yes.”
Hours later, Crowley was summoned to the mayor’s office. The closed-door meeting went so long that Bass did not show up for her own late-afternoon wildfire emergency news conference.
After that episode, Crowley and Bass continued to appear at news conferences together and said they were focused on the fire and the recovery.
The union defended Crowley after a letter claiming to be from retired and active LAFD chief officers assailed the chief over her agency’s wildfire response.
Then, the mayor and her team gave a series of statements to reporters this week that suggested Crowley didn’t tell Bass about the seriousness of the fire risk, amid increasingly severe warnings about high winds, before Bass traveled to Africa on a diplomatic mission.
Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl told The Times that Crowley routinely called the mayor or her team ahead of severe weather events, but did not do so before Jan. 7.
Earlier this week, Bass said during two television interviews that she didn’t receive enough information about the weather. If she had, she said, she would have canceled her trip.
On Friday, after ousting the fire chief, Bass said that during her two years in office, Crowley had called her cellphone every time there was “even a hint of a weather emergency.” The mayor did not respond to questions about how she could have been unaware of the severe wind forecasts, which were widely broadcast in the days before the fire exploded.
The criticism seems certain to renew tensions between Crowley and Bass, who appeared at odds last month.
Although Crowley has been ousted as chief, she will continue to serve in the Fire Department. The mayor’s office did not immediately respond when asked to clarify the former chief’s current role.
Mayor Eric Garcetti picked Crowley in 2022 to lead the department, and she was the first female chief in its history. She was elevated at a time when female firefighters were speaking out about patterns of sexual harassment and hazing at the department.
Rick Caruso, who ran unsuccessfully against Bass for mayor in 2022 and has been a prominent antagonist since the fires, sharply criticized the mayor’s decision to remove Crowley, saying the “decision to ignore the warnings and leave the city was hers alone.”
It’s unclear whether other council members will rally behind Rodriguez’s effort to overturn the mayor’s decision.
The City Charter gives the mayor the power to remove most department heads, such as the fire chief, without the approval of the City Council. However, the charter also gives Crowley the right to appeal the decision to the council within 10 days of being removed. Crowley would need the support of 10 of the 15 council members to override the firing.
Bass — who appeared Friday with four council members standing behind her — voiced confidence that the legislative body would support her decision. While she acknowledged differences of opinion among various public officials, she insisted that the city is “not in upheaval.”
“We have just experienced the worst natural disaster that our city has ever experienced,” she said. “It would be wonderful to think that everything would be smooth every step of the way. But I don’t believe that is realistic. I think we are standing together. I think we are standing strong.”
Times staff writer Paul Pringle contributed to this report.
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