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Citing LA’s failures in leadership during the wildfires, Mayor Karen Bass rejected LAFD chief Christine Crowley on February 21st. According to the city’s charter, Crawley filed an appeal heard Tuesday by the Los Angeles City Council. According to the city clerk’s office, the council last heard of a complaint like Crowley was in 2005 for animal services managers.
Former Los Angeles Fire Department Christine Crowley goes to the city council on Tuesday and insists she should be resurrected after firing a week ago by Mayor Karen Bass.
Bass Announcement February 21 elicited public responses from only a few on the 15-member panel, but it remains unclear how plans to vote will vote after Crowley sued her for firing at next week’s special meeting. According to City Charter, Crowley will need to supplement 10 councillors with her.
Bus fired Crawley, who remains at a low rank after the mayor deemed a leadership failure during the January fire in Los Angeles, including the fatal Palisades fire on the coast of Los Angeles County.
The council originally planned to hear Crowley appear on Friday. This is a short timeline that drew criticism from the Firefighters’ Union. The special meeting was delayed until Tuesday morning.
According to the city clerk’s office, the council last heard of a complaint like Crowley was in 2005 for animal services managers.
“We’ll ask staff working on this to make it public with considerations that it’s not something they do regularly,” said the Council’s Markey Harris Dawson meeting. “So we understand that. We come up with all applicable laws and so on.”
NBC4’s Conan Nolan talks with investigative reporter Eric Leonard about the Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bus bomb, regarding the announcement that it launched LAFD chief Christine Crawley. Additionally, LA City Councilman Monica Rodriguez explains why she doesn’t support Crawley’s shooting.
Regarding the outcome of the appeal, councillors who spoke to NBCLA on Friday did not indicate how they would vote.
A 10 vote bar can be difficult to meet. Four council members were standing with Bass when she announced the shooting at City Hall on Friday. Another member publicly announced support on Tuesday.
The two have publicly stated their opposition to the mayor’s decision.
“There’s a crisis in the city government that I have confidence in and I watch it with my constituents every day,” said Councillor Traci Park, which includes districts that include Pacific Palisades, on Tuesday. “It was not well thought out and it caused a council division when we should focus on recovery.”
Park, like San Fernando Valley council member Monica Rodriguez, had asked Crawley to appeal the decision.
“The council needs to consider why she was fired and what caused her,” Rodriguez said Tuesday.
Los Angeles Chief Christine Crowley and Mayor Karen Bass attended the meeting Friday evening following Crawley’s remarks about the decision to cut budgets. Robert Kovacik is reporting NBC4 News’ report on Friday, January 10th, 2025 at 5pm.
Harris Dawson, one of the members standing behind the mayor during the announcement Friday, said he supports the bus decision. Councillors Karen Price, Hugo Soto Martinez and Adlin Nazarian also made bass at the February 21st City Hall press conference.
“I don’t necessarily know why she wants a job when she doesn’t have the mayor’s confidence, but it’s certainly a right to do it, and perhaps a public review of some of these things, but that’s the process,” Councillor Bob Blumenfield said Friday.
Bass was asked about the appeal Friday.
“I wasn’t sure if she would appeal, but it’s definitely on her right,” Bass said, adding that she wasn’t involved in the process.
The front and back of the mayor and former mayor alleges that the fire began when he traveled abroad on January 7th, and that Crawley did not warn her in advance about the strong winds that fanned the wildfires of Pallisard and Eton. Wind storms were widely anticipated and publicized when fires began in Pallisad and Altadena in the Pacific Ocean.
In a statement to NBC4 last week, LAFD said the department followed all standard preparatory procedures.
“Before the Palisades fire, LAFD emailed two separate media advisories, conducted multiple live and recorded media interviews on the expected extreme fire weather, and notified city officials of upcoming weather events,” the agency said.
Crowley criticized the city for budget cuts that he said was made difficult for firefighters to do their jobs at the time of disruption in the sector consumed by complaints of hayes, harassment and discrimination, which were promoted to Los Angeles fire chief in 2022 and ramping among the 3,400 ranks. Bass says budget cuts will not affect LAFD’s response to wildfires.
Crawley says the cuts affected the mechanics, primarily the fire engines and ambulances that needed repairs.
One of the complaints the mayor identified when he fired Crowley was that he refused to provide a late investigation requested by the city’s civil fire commission to respond to the fire.
Former Chief Roney Villa Nueva, a 1941 LAFD veteran, has been announced as interim fire chief.
Crowley has been with the LAFD for nearly 25 years and works through departmental ranks to acquire top jobs as a firefighter, paramedic, engineer, fire inspector, captain, battalion commander, auxiliary chief, deputy chief and chief deputy deputy.
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