Originally published by LAist Feb. 21, 2025
Citing the response to the deadly Palisades Fire, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass on Friday announced that she has removed Kristin Crowley as fire chief effective immediately.
Bass said on Friday that she’s acting in the best interests of L.A.’s public safety and the operations of the LAFD.
“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. “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.”
Bass said she has called for a full investigation of everything that led up to Jan. 7, when both the Palisades and Eaton fires sparked, and the after action report Crowley refused to do is a “necessary” part of that process.
Former Chief Deputy Ronnie Villanueva, a more than 40-year veteran of the department, has been named interim fire chief.
There will also be a national search for the next permanent chief, according to the mayor’s office.
At a news conference Friday, Villanueva said he watched last month’s fierce firefight, and the love he has for the department is the reason he’s coming back.
“I just plan on moving forward,” he said. “ I wanna move the department forward, and take care of our firefighters.”
The move comes a little more than a month after the Palisades Fire broke out on Jan. 7, killing 12 people and burning more than 23,700 acres. Days later in media interviews, Crowley described her department was understaffed — particularly with mechanics — and inadequately funded, hindering the ability to fight massive wildfires.
That prompted a closed-door meeting between her and Bass, after which they continued to appear together at new conferences, insisting that they were focused on firefighting and recovery efforts.
When asked about the city budget on Friday, Bass said, “The fire department was not cut.”
She’s also said in recent media interviews that Crowley did not inform her of the full scope of danger ahead of the wind storm that drove the fires. Had she, Bass said she would have returned early from her trip to Ghana.
“Every time there was a weather emergency, or even a hint of a weather emergency, the chief has called me directly,” Bass said on Friday. “She has my cell phone. She knows she can call me 24/7, and she briefed me, and then we would talk about what needed to happen next. That did not happen this time.”
Bass added that she didn’t directly speak with Crowley until the evening of Jan. — after the fires started.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
This report is reprinted with permission from Southern California Public Radio. © 2024 Southern California Public Radio. All rights reserved.
