The former fire chief in Los Angeles, Kristin Crowley, failed to regain her job on Tuesday after she was ousted by the city’s mayor, Karen Bass, last month following the most destructive wildfires in the city’s history.
Crowley made her case to the LA city council on Tuesday for why she believes her firing was unwarranted, to which the council voted 13-2 to reject the proposal and back Bass’s decision.
Bass fired Crowley on 21 February, saying it was in the best interest of public safety. She claimed Crowley sent home 1,000 firefighters who could have been on duty when the fires started and refused to prepare an after-action report needed for the investigation.
Crowley rebutted the allegations of declining to conduct an after-action report, sending firefighters home, and failing to notify the mayor’s office about an upcoming weather event.
“Let me set the record straight,” Crowley said during her appeal. “I did not send home 1,000 firefighters who could have hopped on fire engines and fought the Palisades fire nor did I leave 40 available fire engines unstaffed.”
“The 40 fire engines in question were already staffed and running 911 calls with on-duty personnel in their normal configuration,” she added.
Crowley said the LAFD engaged in all of its standard communications, including emailing two separate media advisories, conducting multiple live and recorded media interviews about the predicted extreme weather and fire danger, and also notifying city officials about the upcoming weather events.
The council backed Bass on Tuesday after she faced 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.
Before voting, the council heard mixed opinions from residents, activists and city employees. Some backed Bass, while others pushed to reinstate Crowley. Unionized firefighters were among her strongest supporters, and argued she was scapegoated for advocating more staff and funding.
The Palisades fire broke out on 7 January amid strong winds, damaging or destroying nearly 8,000 structures and killing at least 12 people in Los Angeles. That same day, another wind-driven fire in Altadena killed at least 17 people and damaged or destroyed more than 10,000 buildings.
