Ex-LA Fire Chief Sues City For Firing Her After Palisades Fire | EUROtoday

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The former Los Angeles fireplace chief has filed a lawsuit towards town, alleging that her ouster was a part of an orchestrated effort to smear her conduct and decision-making so Mayor Karen Bass might keep away from accountability for probably the most harmful wildfire in LA historical past.

Bass sacked Kristin Crowley a month after the January 2025 Palisades Fire, and her dismissal was adopted by finger-pointing between the ex-chief and City Hall over the blaze’s devastation and the hearth division’s funding. In March of that yr, Crowley misplaced an attraction to the City Council to win again her job.

Crowley’s lawsuit filed final week alleges that Bass unfold misinformation to guard the mayor’s political popularity following the hearth.

The mayor’s workplace mentioned the lawsuit has no benefit.

“There is nothing new here. 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,” Yusef Robb, a senior adviser to Bass, mentioned in a press release Tuesday.

A message in search of remark was additionally despatched to the LA City Attorney’s workplace.

Crowley accuses the first-term Democrat of making an attempt to distract from criticism over being in Africa for a presidential delegation when the blaze began, though climate stories had warned of harmful wildfire situations within the days earlier than she left.

Bass made statements to shift blame, “including falsely claiming that she was not aware of the nationally anticipated weather event, falsely claiming that the LAFD’s budget was not cut, and falsely claiming that LAFD’s resources would have supported an additional 1,000 firefighters to fight the blaze,” the lawsuit alleges.

“These false statements were not mistakes but part of a deliberate strategy to divert scrutiny from Bass’ decisions and to avoid accountability,” the lawsuit states.

In the submitting, the previous chief seeks unspecified financial and compensatory damages.

Bass fired Crowley on Feb. 21, 2025, six weeks after the LA fireplace began. She praised Crowley early on within the firefighting efforts, however she mentioned she later discovered that a further 1,000 firefighters might have been deployed on the day the blaze ignited. Furthermore, she mentioned Crowley rebuffed a request to organize a report on the fires that may be a essential a part of investigations into what occurred and why.

Crowley’s authorized submitting disputes each these claims.

The Palisades Fire started Jan. 7 in heavy winds. It destroyed or broken almost 8,000 houses, companies and different constructions, and it killed a minimum of 12 folks within the Pacific Palisades, an prosperous LA neighborhood. Another fireplace began that day in Altadena, a suburb east of LA, killing a minimum of 17 folks and destroying or damaging greater than 10,000 houses or different buildings.

When she was ousted from the highest job, Crowley was demoted three ranks to assistant chief and at the moment serves in a “special duty” place with the hearth division’s Risk, Health and Safety Division, in accordance with court docket papers.