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Former LA fire Chief Kristin Crowley sues city of LA over her removal
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, right, and then-Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, left, address the media on Jan. 11, 2025.
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Allen J. Schaben
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Getty Images
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Topline:
Former L.A. Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley is suing the city of L.A., alleging that her removal after the Palisades Fire was retaliatory.
The background: L.A. Mayor Karen Bass removed Crowley from her role as chief in February 2025, saying that Crowley had failed to deploy enough firefighters before the Palisades Fire started. Last summer, Crowley filed a claim against the city of L.A. and Bass in which she alleged defamation and that the mayor had thrown her under the bus after the fires.
What the lawsuit says: The lawsuit, filed Friday, accuses Bass of “orchestrating a campaign of retaliation to conceal the extent to which Bass undermined public safety and transparency.”
Crowley also criticized the mayor’s handling of last year’s fire, saying the mayor ignored repeated warnings about the risks posed by LAFD’s “worsening resource and staffing crisis” and instead further cut the department’s budget. She claims that Bass retaliated against her by removing her as fire chief and relegating her to a lower position in the department following comments Crowley made publicly about the LAFD being underfunded.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages and “accountability for Bass’ calculated efforts to punish a dedicated LAFD civil servant for exposing the truth, and for choosing the safety of the city and its firefighters over the interests of Bass and her cover-up.”.
The mayor’s response: “There is nothing new here,” said Yusef Robb, senior advisor to Bass, in a statement. “Ms. Crowley was removed from her post for her failure to predeploy and her decision to send 1,000 firefighters home instead of keeping them on duty on the morning the fires broke out. This lawsuit has no merit.”
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Go deeper: For more on the fallout between Mayor Bass and Kristen Crowley over the city's response to the Palisades Fire, listen to this episode of LAist's podcast "Imperfect Paradise."
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