Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has sacked the city’s fire chief, blaming her for mishandling the response to last month’s devastating wildfires.
Bass said Kristin Crowley had failed to warn her about an imminent fire risk.
“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 also said in a statement.
Bass has appointed Ronnie Villanueva, an LAFD veteran, as interim fire chief. The wildfires claimed 26 lives, destroyed thousands of homes, and displaced over 150,000 residents.
The city charter allows the mayor to fire department heads, including the chief, without city council approval.
However, Crowley has 10 days to appeal, and would need a two-thirds council vote (10 members) to overturn Bass’s decision. While securing those votes is unlikely, even a failed appeal could politically challenge Bass.
The mayor has taken political heat for her response to the historic fires, almost since the moment they broke out while she was out of the country. Bass had travelled to Ghana in early January, despite the National Weather Service warning of the heightened risk of wildfires and damage from a major windstorm.
Crowley and Bass tussled publicly, too, over the response – with Crowley blaming budget cuts for problems with trying to contain the fires, even though the department’s operating budget had technically grown.
At a press conference on Friday where Bass repeated her belief that Los Angeles was not properly prepared and that residents’ lives had been at risk, the mayor said she knew she wanted to fire then-Chief Crowley weeks ago.
She said she decided to wait until the city was out of a state of emergency.
Calling the firefighters heroic in taking on the Palisades fire, Bass added that “bringing new leadership to the fire department is what they and the people of Los Angeles deserve”.
One of Bass’s biggest critics, Rick Caruso, a major force in local business and real estate who ran for mayor, blasted Bass on X for firing Crowley, saying the former chief had spoken “honestly about the severe and profoundly ill-conceived budget cuts the Bass administration made” and alleging she had been fired for speaking out.
“The Mayor’s decision to ignore the warnings and leave the city was hers alone,” he also wrote. “This is a time for city leaders to take responsibility for their actions and their decisions.”
Kristin Crowley made history as the department’s first female fire chief when she was appointed in 2022.
During her tenure, she prioritized firefighter recruitment, diversity initiatives, and modernizing outdated department policies. However, her leadership faced controversy, particularly regarding staffing shortages during the recent fires.
Current and retired LAFD chief officers have accused her of mismanaging the wildfire response, highlighting in a recent letter issues such as inadequate evacuation plans and insufficient firefighting resources.
They called for her resignation, saying that “a large number of Chief Officers do not believe you are up to the task.”
Crowley also faced backlash for her focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within the department. Her critics argued that this emphasis diverted attention from essential firefighting operations, potentially compromising the department’s effectiveness during crises.
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.”
Bass has called for a full investigation into the wildfires response, and Governor Gavin Newsom has called for a similar investigation at the state level.
