Los Angeles fire chief ousted after the city's most destructive wildfire fails to get her job back

LOS ANGELES -- The erstwhile Los Angeles occurrence main who was ousted by Mayor Karen Bass aft the astir destructive wildfire successful the city's past failed to triumph backmost her occupation Tuesday, falling abbreviated with her statement that her dismissal was based connected mendacious accusations astir her behaviour and decision-making.

Former Chief Kristen Crowley appealed to the City Council to reverse Bass' decision, which followed finger-pointing betwixt Crowley and City Hall implicit the wildfire devastation and the occurrence department's funding.

Former Los Angeles Fire Dept. Chief Kristin Crowley attends a metropolis assembly gathering Tuesday, March 4, 2025, successful Los Angeles.

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Video successful the media subordinate supra is from a erstwhile update

The assembly voted 13-2 to shelve the connection successful what amounted to a amusement of enactment for Bass, a first-term Democrat who has been criticized for being successful Africa arsenic portion of a statesmanlike delegation connected the time the fires started, adjacent though upwind reports had warned of unsafe upwind and wildfire conditions successful the days earlier she left.

Bass fired Crowley connected Feb. 21, six weeks aft the occurrence started. She praised Crowley successful the firefighting effort's aboriginal going, but she said she aboriginal learned that an further 1,000 firefighters could person been deployed connected the time the blaze ignited. Furthermore, she said Crowley rebuffed a petition to hole a study connected the fires that is simply a captious portion of investigations into what happened and why.

"One-thousand firefighters who could person been connected the occupation warring the fires were sent home" connected Crowley's watch, Bass said past month.

In her archetypal extended comments since being dismissed, Crowley told the assembly Tuesday that she was the unfortunate of "multiple mendacious accusations." She said she ne'er refused to enactment successful the follow-up study connected the fire, and that she couldn't deploy much firefighters during the blaze due to the fact that engines and different instrumentality for them wasn't disposable due to the fact that of fund cuts.

A occurrence chief, she said, should not beryllium punished for "speaking openly and honestly."

Before voting, assembly members heard a premix of reactions from residents, activists, metropolis employees and others, with immoderate supporting Bass' determination and others urging the sheet to reinstate Crowley. The city's unionized firefighters were among her astir vocal supporters, saying she had been scapegoated and fired for speaking retired astir the request for much unit and funding.

The Palisades Fire began Jan. 7 successful dense winds. It destroyed oregon damaged astir 8,000 homes, businesses and different structures, and killed astatine slightest 12 radical successful the Pacific Palisades, an affluent LA neighborhood. Another occurrence started that time successful Altadena, a suburb eastbound of LA, sidesplitting astatine slightest 17 radical and destroying oregon damaging much than 10,000 homes oregon different buildings.

Bass has said Crowley ne'er notified her of the looming information earlier she departed, adjacent though that was modular signifier since she took bureau successful December 2022.