L.A. Mayor Axes Fire Chief Weeks After Wildfires in Palisades and Altadena

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass fired Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristen Crowley, Bass confirmed on Friday, citing the now-former chief’s response to last month’s devastating wildfires in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods that destroyed thousands of homes and killed 29 people.

The mayor said the firing is “in the best interest of Los Angeles’ public safety.”

“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 said in a statement on Friday. “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 fires unearthed a flurry of critiques toward city leadership over LA’s preparedness for fires of this magnitude. Aside from Crowley, who faced calls for her resignation amid the blazes, Bass herself has faced heavy criticism over her response to the fires as well, as the mayor was in Ghana when the Palisades fire first erupted on Jan. 7 despite the warnings days prior of dry high wind conditions. Monica Rodriguez, a member of the Los Angeles City Council, told the Los Angeles Times that she would attempt to get the council to vote to overturn the firing.

“On Jan. 7 she was praising the fire chief and her response, and then it appears, as the heat kicked up for her absence, she continued to try and attribute blame to someone else,” Rodriguez told the Times on Friday.

Bass said that Ronnie Villanueva, who has been with LAFD for over 40 years, would serve as fire chief on an interim basis. “While the Department is in the experienced and expert hands of Chief Villanueva, my office will lead a national search and I will speak directly with firefighters and Angelenos about what they want to see in their next permanent chief,” Bass said.