The Los Angeles City Council rejected former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley’s appeal to get her job back, despite fierce support for her from the firefighters’ union. She was ousted by Mayor Karen Bass after the most destructive Los Angeles wildfire. The council voted 13 to 2 on Tuesday against Crowley’s reinstatement, handing Mayor Karen Bass a much-needed political victory. Bass already has announced she intends to seek reelection in 2026. The rift between her and Crowley created a sensitive political situation.
Crowley was fired six weeks after the fire
Mayor Bass fired Crowley on February 21, six weeks after the fire started. She praised Crowley in the firefighting effort's early going, but she said she later learned that an additional 1,000 firefighters could have been deployed on the day the blaze ignited. “One-thousand firefighters who could have been on the job fighting the fires were sent home” on Crowley's watch, Bass said last month.
'Victim of multiple false accusations'
Crowley told the council during the hearing on Tuesday that she was the victim of "multiple false accusations." She said she never refused to participate in the follow-up report on the fire, and that she couldn't deploy more firefighters during the blaze because engines and other equipment for them wasn't available because of budget cuts. A fire chief, she said, should not be punished for "speaking openly and honestly.
Rift between Bass and Crowley
Mayor Bass, a first-term Democrat who has been criticised for being in Africa as part of a presidential delegation on the day the fires started, even though weather reports had warned of dangerous wind and wildfire conditions in the days before she left. Bass has been trying to show a unified front as the city confronts the massive job of clearing and rebuilding incinerated areas.
Bass alleged that Crowley never notified her of the looming danger before she departed, even though that was standard practice since she took office in December 2022.
Firefighters support Crowley
The city's unionised firefighters were among her most vocal supporters, saying she had been scapegoated and fired for speaking out about the need for more staff and funding. Chuong Ho, a board member with the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City, Local 112, told the council Crowley was dismissed “for telling the truth.”
(AP inputs)
