Los Angeles, (APP – UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News – 22nd Feb, 2025) Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass sacked the city’s fire chief on Friday, blaming her for leadership failures in the handling of deadly blazes that tore through the California metropolis in January.
The axing of Kristin Crowley comes six weeks after America’s second largest city was ravaged by fires that left at least 29 people dead and vast areas in ruins.
It also comes as angry residents continue to look for someone to blame for the fires.
“Acting in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety, and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed Kristin Crowley as Fire Chief,” Bass said in a statement.
“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.
“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,” Bass added.
“The Chief refused. These require her removal.”
Tensions had flared between the two officials even as flames raged in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods.
There was sharp criticism over the firefight, particularly in the tony Pacific Palisades area, where hydrants ran dry because of huge demands on the system.
Just days after the wind-driven fires broke out, Crowley blindsided city bosses by telling a local television interviewer that Los Angeles had failed her department, describing it as understaffed and underfunded.
“My message is the fire department needs to be properly funded,” Crowley told Fox television’s local network. “It’s not.”
An appearance on national television compounded the rift when she told CNN that budget cuts had directly affected her ability to fight the mammoth fires.
Hours later, Bass hauled Crowley in for a closed-door meeting that ran so late that Bass missed a scheduled news briefing.
The next time the two women stood together at a press conference, tensions were evident, despite pledges that they were on the same page.
Bass’s move Friday comes after weeks of criticism levelled at her.
The former US congresswoman has frequently been the target of residents’ ire, after a flat-footed response to the fires, which broke out while she was in Ghana.
Earlier this week, Bass sought to frame her decision to travel abroad as the result of partial information Crowley had provided to her.
In television interviews she said she would not have gone if she had been given enough warning about the severity of the weather, a responsibility she indicated had rested with Crowley.
