It’s not exactly a shocker: Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley has been shown the exit. It’s not entirely her fault, but in the immediate—the fire chief who presided over what could be the costliest natural disaster in American history cannot remain in his or her position. The cost of the LA County fires, which raged for weeks, could soar past $250 billion (via KTLA):
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley has been fired by Mayor Karen Bass.
Bass’s office made the announcement Friday morning, saying she had been removed from the post effective immediately. Retired Deputy Chief Ronnie Villanueva will serve as interim chief.
In a statement released to media Friday, Bass said the decision to remove Crowley from the position was made in the “best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety, and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department.”
[…]
“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 her statement. “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.”
That’s rich. Mayor Bass, you were in Ghana when these fires erupted and have refused to apologize for taking the useless trip funded by taxpayers. She also reneged on a promise never to leave American soil during her mayoralty. KTLA did well to explain that no one is blameless here: Chief Crowley did call for more funding for her department, which was cut by the tens of millions by Bass and redirected to alternate ‘woke’ initiatives, like gay choirs and transgender cafes. Crowley and the mayor's spat did spill out publicly, which likely made this firing inevitable as well.
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There were also years of neglect of their water systems. Multiple memos were written about how cuts to the LAFD could impact responses to natural disasters—all were ignored. Gov. Gavin Newsom also axed a specialized volunteer firefighting unit and never replaced it. It’s a top-down failure. Not all of this should land on Crowley’s lap, but the LAFD also pushed a lot of DEI nonsense, wasting money and training time.
Gigi Graciette on Fox LA just now on now-fired LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley: "She has a very long paper trail" of her interactions with Mayor Karen Bass and her requests for funding... 🍿
— Jennifer Van Laar (@jenvanlaar) February 21, 2025
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