The previous Los Angeles fireplace chief filed a authorized declare in opposition to the town Wednesday, alleging that Mayor Karen Bass “orchestrated a campaign of misinformation, defamation, and retaliation” to guard her political picture after essentially the most harmful wildfire in metropolis historical past.
Kristin Crowley and her attorneys accuse Bass of ousting her, and repeatedly defaming Crowley as Bass sought to shift blame for the best way the town dealt with the catastrophic Palisades Fireplace “while concealing the extent to which she undermined public safety” with cuts to the hearth division’s price range.
The authorized declare alleges that Bass scapegoated Crowley amid mounting criticism of the mayor’s resolution to attend a ceremony in Ghana on Jan. 7, when the hearth erupted. Bass left Los Angeles regardless of her realizing of the potential extreme winds and lethal fireplace hazard, the declare alleges.
“As the Fire Chief, for nearly three years, I advocated for the proper funding, staffing and infrastructure upgrades to better support and protect our Firefighters, and by extension, our communities,” Crowley stated in a press release to The Instances. “The lies, deceit, exaggerations and misrepresentations need to be addressed with the only thing that can refute them — the true facts.”
Bass and the town had but to answer a request for remark Wednesday.
The declare is definite to revive considerations over whether or not metropolis leaders have been ready to combat L.A.’s most harmful wildfire and whether or not extra might have been finished to cease it. The town has confronted criticism for an insufficient deployment of firefighters on morning of the blaze, a chaotic evacuation of Pacific Palisades and a scarcity of water brought on partly by a neighborhood reservoir that was left empty attributable to repairs.
Crowley’s attorneys say Bass “initially praised the department’s preparedness” and even portrayed the response positively. “But as criticism mounted over her absence, Bass reversed course,” the authorized declare stated. “She sought to shift blame to Crowley, falsely stating that Bass was not aware of the nationally anticipated weather event, that Crowley sent 1,000 firefighters home who could have fought the blaze, and misrepresenting the department’s budget…”
Bass eliminated Crowley on Feb. 21, six weeks after the firestorm that consumed Pacific Palisades, killing 12 folks and destroying practically 7,000 properties.
The mayor stated she was demoting Crowley for failing to tell her in regards to the harmful situations or to activate a whole bunch of firefighters forward of the blaze. She additionally stated Crowley rebuffed a request to organize a report on the fires — a crucial a part of ongoing investigations into the reason for the hearth and the town’s response.
In keeping with her attorneys, Crowley had “repeatedly warned of the LAFD’s worsening resource and staffing crisis,” previous to the hearth, and warned that “aging infrastructure, surging emergency calls, and shrinking staff left the city at risk.”
Within the 23-page declare, Crowley stated Bass lower the division’s working price range by practically $18 million that 12 months and “eliminated positions critical to maintaining fire engines, trucks, and ambulances.”
After Crowley complained publicly that the price range cuts had “weakened the department’s readiness, Bass retaliated,” the attorneys allege. On Jan 10, after Crowley informed FOX LA, “we are screaming to be properly funded,” Bass known as her to the mayor’s workplace.
“I don’t know why you had to do that; normally we are on the same page, and I don’t know why you had to say stuff to the media,” the attorneys say Bass informed the chief, however stated she wasn’t fired.
The subsequent day, retired Chief Deputy Ronnie Villanueva started working on the Emergency Operations Middle, donning a Mayor’s workplace badge. Then Feb. 3, 2025, two weeks earlier than Chief Crowley was faraway from her place, Villanueva wrote a Report back to the Board of Fireplace Commissioners figuring out himself as Interim Fireplace Chief” — a place he now holds.
A authorized declare is a precursor to a civil lawsuit, and is required by California legislation when suing a authorities entity. In her declare, Crowley alleges Bass and her subordinates have performed a “public smear campaign aimed at discrediting Crowley’s character and decades of service,” following her dismissal.
Crowley’s attorneys, Genie Harrison and Mia Munro, allege that Bass and others in her administration defamed Crowley, retaliated in opposition to her in violation of California’s labor code and violated Crowley’s First Modification rights. Crowley is in search of unspecified damages above $25,000.
Harrison, who has represented quite a few victims of Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, stated Crowley’s declare “presents her extensive advocacy efforts to obtain the funding and resources the LAFD needed to fulfill its public safety mission. It also shows Mayor Bass’ repeated refusals to provide those resources.”
Bass made the assertion in regards to the failed deployment after an investigation by The Instances discovered that Fireplace Division officers might have ordered about 1,000 firefighters to stay on responsibility as winds have been constructing however opted in opposition to it. The transfer would have doubled the firefighting pressure readily available when fireplace broke out.
However Crowley and her attorneys say within the authorized declare the “LAFD did not have sufficient operating emergency vehicles to safely and effectively pre-deploy 1,000 (or anywhere near 1,000) additional firefighters on January 7.” In easy phrases, the division didn’t have the cash or personnel “to repair and maintain emergency fire engines, fire trucks, and ambulances,” the declare alleges.
The Instances investigation discovered the division had greater than 40 engines obtainable to battle wildfires, however fireplace officers staffed solely 5 of them.
Crowley’s attorneys dispute that within the declare. They are saying “the LAFD staffed all its front-line fire engines (including all the 40 engines that Bass later falsely stated sat “idle.”
