The day after Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announced the firing of former fire chief Christine Crowley, the exiled leader broke her silence and issued a statement about her leadership.
As humble civil servants over the past 30 years, it has been an absolute honor to represent and guide 25 of the LAFD’s 25 people on behalf of the world’s greatest fire station men and women. As the fire chief, I am based on my actions and decisions on caring for our firefighters so that they can take care of our community. He guided me throughout my career by guiding with courage, sincerity, caring, love and respect to serve others before myself, and with courage and sincerity to do the right thing. I am extremely proud of the work, sacrifice and dedication of both LAFD members, both sworn and civilian.
Former LAFD Chief Christine Crowley
If Crowley chooses to sue her firing, she will need 10 of the 15 members of the City Council to vote for success. In the meantime, the mayor’s office said the former fire chief had exercised her right to exercise her civil servant and remain in the department.
Tensions have arisen between the two leaders following the reaction to last month’s historic fire at City Hall and Los Angeles Fire Department. Bass and Crowley both shifted responsibility to one another, and the fire chief said the mayor’s decision to cut LAFD funds had an impact on his ability to properly respond to the fire.
Second, Bass, who was on diplomatic trips abroad at the time of the Palisade and Eton fires, claimed that Crawley had not warned her before the expected strong winds in the area ahead of the disaster. However, the storm was highly publicized and expected.
Things changed when the mayor announced Friday that he had removed Crawley from her leadership position.
In a new interview with the media, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said fire chief Christine Crowley did not fully inform the seriousness of the weather leading up to the fires in Pallisard and Eton. Conan Nolan is reporting NBC4 News on Wednesday, February 19th, 2025 at 6pm.
“To act in the best interests of the public safety in Los Angeles and to run the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed Christine Crowley as fire chief,” Bus said when he announced the shooting. “We know that 1,000 firefighters who may have been on duty in the morning were fired with Crowley Chief’s watches and sent home instead.
“And the necessary step to the investigation was to tell Chief Crawley, the president of the Fire Commission and to make a report on the fire later, which the Chief refused. These require her removal. And so, our firefighter heroism – a day between the Palisade fire and all people – there’s no doubt that our city needs.”
The two fires burned more than 37,000 acres, destroyed more than 14,200 structures, and claimed more than 20 lives.
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