LA City Council keeps controversial firing of former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley in place
LOS ANGELES − The Los Angeles City Council kept in place the firing of former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, following the controversial removal of the chief that led the department through the firestorm that engulfed the region in January.
During the hearing, Crowely called the reasons levied for the firing by Mayor Karen Bass "false accusations."
“The truth is that the fire chief should not be prevented from, or punished for, speaking openly and honestly about the needs and capabilities of the LAFD, or for doing her best to protect our firefighters and our communities," Crowley said in front of the council.
In a statement to Paste BN, the mayor's office repeated the disputed claim surrounding fire personnel and said, "this is an issue of public safety and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department – the City of Los Angeles is moving forward."
Crowley needed two-thirds of the council's 15 members to overturn the firing but only 2 members voted to do so. Only Councilwomen Monica Rodriguez, who had called for the former chief to appeal, and Traci Park − who represents the fire-devastated Pacific Palisades − voted with Crowley.
The appeal appeared to have an uphill fight before the meeting as four of the council members, including city council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, stood with Bass at a news conference after she announced the firing.
Park said that she wanted answers on the response to the devastating wildfires that killed dozens of people and burned thousands of homes in the region and said it "might very well mean firing everyone who has culpability across multiple departments, and I have no problem with that."
"But, I wouldn’t do it without a well-informed record and actual evidence to support that decision," she added.
Former fire chief calls Mayor's accusations 'false'
Bass cited two main issues for firing Crowley: Mismanagement of pre-deployment ahead of the fires and a refusal to participate in an after-action report, both of which Crowley denied during the meeting.
Explaining the firing, Bass cited a report from the Los Angeles Times saying that fire officials decided not to assign roughly 1,000 available firefighters and dozens of water-carrying engines for emergency deployment in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood before the fires broke out.
Crowley said that she did not send the firefighters home and that, "we did not have enough apparatus to put them on the line."
Rodriguez previously called that rationale a "gotcha," and said that the availability of apparatus necessary for the available firefighters would be uncovered in an investigation.
The United Firefighters of Los Angeles City Local 112 echoed Rodriguez's assessment of the firing in a statement to Paste BN, saying that she was dismissed without a full investigation.
"We still have nearly 100 broken down fire engines, trucks, and ambulances in the maintenance yard because of civilian mechanic job cuts," the union said. "This is a city that has neglected its fire department and can’t even pay our firefighters correctly for the work that we perform every single day."
Crowley refutes after-action claims
Crowley also rejected Bass' claims that she refused to participate in an after action-action report, pointing to the investigation ordered by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the outsized impact of the fire.
“I did not refuse to conduct an after-action report,” Crowley said. “Let me be clear: This is a false accusation.”
Rodriguez said during the meeting that the funding for an after-action report was up for a vote in committee Tuesday.
"I think what's really important is that our responsibility as city leaders, as elected leaders, is to be honest and forthcoming with the facts," Rodriguez told Paste BN. "The public has a right to know."
Both Bass and Harris-Dawson had previously claimed that they were not properly communicated to by Crowley during the fires, though it was not a part of the official rationale for dismissing Crowley.
“I was acting mayor at the time and I was not getting a flow of information from the chief during that time period,” Council President Harris-Dawson previously told City News Service, saying that he wanted Crowley fired. “Frankly, I did not talk to her until I showed up to a press conference at 4 o’clock that afternoon of the fire.”
Crowley reiterated that her department followed all standard communication procedures during the emergency.
Deputy Fire Chief Jason Hing had told Crowley that he messaged Harris-Dawson about the city’s fire deployment, preparations and their need for more resources, according to phone messages obtained by KTLA-TV.
In an interview on local Fox program "The Issue Is," Bass claimed that Crowley failed to notify her about the coming fire danger and that she was not aware of warnings made before the firestorm.
Days before the fires broke out, the National Weather Service forecasted the fire weather, warning residents: "A LIFE-THREATENING, DESTRUCTIVE, Widespread Windstorm."
Public support split
Supporters of Crowley's reinstatement praised her willingness to speak out about budget cuts that became a flash point during the blazes.
"We had a fire chief that finally spoke up," Chuong Ho, director at United Firefighters of Los Angeles City and a Los Angeles Fire Department captain, said in an interview with Paste BN at the meeting. "For the first time we had a fire chief speak out in disagreement with our city's elected officials and this is what happens."
Bass supporters the audience called the movement to overturn the mayor's decision "political."
"This is about (destabilizing) the mayor," Benjamin Torres, president and chief executive of the South L.A.-based group CD Tech, told Paste BN in an interview during the meeting. "I feel like Crowley is really a political football in this herself. I think she deserves more."
This story has been updated to add photos