OAN Staff Blake Wolf
5:46 PM – Friday, February 21, 2025
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced that LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has been fired “in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety.”
“Acting in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety, and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed Kristin Crowley as Fire Chief. 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 stated.
“Furthermore, 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. The heroism of our firefighters – during the Palisades fire and every single day – is without question. Bringing new leadership to the fire department is what our city needs.”
The announcement follows after Crowley criticized Bass for the lack of funding towards the fire department, leading to the “lackluster response” to multiple Los Angeles wildfires in January.
“Any budget cut is going to impact our ability to provide service,” Crowley stated at the time, essentially throwing Bass under the bus. “That is a ground truth in regard to our ability. If there’s a budget cut, we had to pull from somewhere else. What does that mean? That doesn’t get done or that there are delays.”
“Since day one, we’ve identified huge gaps in regard to our service delivery and our ability of our firefighters’ boots on the ground to do their jobs since day one,” she continued. “This is my third budget as we’re going into 2025-2026, and what I can tell you is we are still understaffed, we’re still under-resourced and we’re still underfunded.”
Mayor Bass appointed former Chief Deputy Ronnie Villanueva as the interim fire chief. Villanueva has 41 years of experience in the Los Angeles Fire Department.
The finger pointing between the two city officials began after Bass was in Ghana for an overseas trip, later blaming Crowley for not warning her and “stopping her” from leaving in advance of the fierce winds — which mostly prompted the Palisades and Eaton fires, in addition to arson.
Despite Bass’ claim that she was not informed, the LAFD argued that they “emailed two separate media advisories, conducted multiple live and recorded media interviews about the predicted extreme fire weather, and notified City Officials.”
Bass herself has also admitted that it was a mistake to go on the trip to Ghana during an interview with an NBC affiliate, stating: “Yeah, absolutely… There is no question about that.”
Meanwhile, city Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez responded to the firing, expressing that she was “outraged.”
“I am outraged by the scapegoating revealed by the Mayor’s actions,” Rodriguez stated. “I plan to use my authority as a Councilmember to set the record straight and encourage Chief Crowley to appeal the Mayor’s baseball termination to the City Council. The public deserves a full account of every single leadership failure that has taken place.”
Republican businessman Rick Caruso, who previously ran against Bass, similarly expressed his disappointment in the firing.
“It is very disappointing that Mayor Bass has decided to fire Chief Kristin Crowley,” he wrote in an X post. “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. That courage to speak the truth was brave, and I admire her. Honesty in a high city official should not be a firing offense. The Mayor’s decision to ignore the warnings and leave the city was hers alone. This is a time for city leaders to take responsibility for their actions and their decisions. We need real leadership, not more blame passing.”
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