LA mayor dismisses fire chief over response to most destructive wildfire in city history last month

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: AP

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Six weeks after the start of the most destructive wildfire in city history, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ousted the fire chief Friday amid a public rift over preparations for a potential blaze and finger-pointing between the chief and City Hall over responsibility for the devastation.

Bass, a first-term Democrat, said she is removing Chief Kristin Crowley immediately. “Los Angeles needs to move forward. This is a new day,” she told reporters at City Hall.

While Bass initially praised Crowley in the early hours of firefighting, she said she later learned an additional 1,000 firefighters could have been deployed the day the blaze ignited. Additionally, she said Crowley rebuffed a request to prepare a report on the fires that is a critical part of investigations into what happened and why.

“One thousand firefighters who could have been on the job fighting the fires were sent home” on Crowley’s watch, Bass said.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/california-wildfires-fire-chief-146e4421e4bac52dadca6164040eff39

[brush]

1. Well, somebody had to get fired after the worst fire/fire response in history.

[SunSeeker]

6. It was the worst fire but not the worst fire response.

We had record 100 mph winds ripping through tinder dry brush that Tuesday night, January 7. No fire department would have stopped it. We couldn't get aircraft in the air because of the winds. Once the winds died down a bit the next day, LAFD was able to get water dropping aircraft in the sky and stopped the forward spread of the fires into neighborhoods, containing it in canyons. Over the next few days, numerous new fires started in various other locations around Southern California (winds were still blowing at 40 mph), but they were all immediately put out because we could use water dropping aircraft. It was just Tuesday night's Eaton Canyon and Palisades fires that got out of control because of the winds.

[Xolodno]

2. Sacraficial lamb.

There is plenty of blame to go around. Even at the state level.

[SunSeeker]

8. No, Crowley screwed up. The state is not to blame. Please don't repeat GOP talking points.

The Eaton Fire was was started by arcing Edison wires in 100 mph winds. The Palisades fire appears to have been started by those same winds reviving smoldering embers from a previous fire in the hiking trails above Palisades started by idiots shooting off fireworks on New Year's Eve. My guess is they were Trumpers, who were shooting off fireworks big time on November 5 and December 31 to celebrate the return of their messiah to office. My neighborhood in Orange County CA was like a war zone because of these idiots shooting off fireworks on December 31. It's never been like that on New Year Eve before. And nobody shot off fireworks on an election night before November 5, 2024.

We had record 100 mph winds ripping through tinder dry brush the Tuesday night that the fires started, January 7. No fire department would have stopped it. We couldn't get aircraft in the air because of the winds. Once the winds died down a bit the next day, LAFD was able to get water dropping aircraft in the sky and stopped the forward spread of the fires into neighborhoods, containing it in canyons. Over the next few days, numerous new fires started in various other locations around Southern California (winds were still blowing at 40 mph), but they were all immediately put out because we could use water dropping aircraft. It was just Tuesday night's Eaton Canyon and Palisades fires that got out of control because of the winds.

Instead of defending her firefighters and/or accepting criticism and saying LAFD will learn from it, Crowley pointed fingers at Bass and the city council. She crumbled under the pressure of media peppering her with questions about who was to blame and got goaded into blaming others. Crowley was asked if her budget was sufficient and instead of saying something like "No fire chief ever thinks they have enough money," she lied to the press right after fire that her budget had been cut, when in fact it had been increased last year. LA deserves a better leader as LAFD Fire Chief.

[Xolodno]

11. Have to disagree, since I'm directly involved with this.

Nor am I spouting GOP talking points, if I was, all I would be doing is talking about an empty resivor down for maintenance in a non-Santa Anna wind season, oh and DEI.

Could have the fires been prevented due to the record 100 mph winds? 99% sure they could not. Shit was going burn, plain and simple. Could have the severity been limited? Yes.

The failure was systemic. At the state level, for years they have been pushing off legislation to the next year and the next and so on. At the local level, there wasn't preperation for a catastrophe such as this, in fairness, no one has ever even thought something of this magnitude could happen, in fact, things designed to prevent fires contributed to exacerbrating it. But, obviously no one thought of the worst case scenario. Like to say more, but I could get in trouble. This is stuff I can't say much about nor can have it come back to me. It goes all the way down to roof types and even analog vs. digital electric meters.

The fire chief simply wasn't adept at "politics" and panicked. And yes, finger pointing is not going to accomplish anything. One thing good, a lot of changes are going to come out of this and be applied elsewhere. Too bad it took this for it to happen.

As they say, California has three seasons, hot, hotter and fire. Looks like fire season just got longer.

[SunSeeker]

12. Sounds like we agree as to most things.

Could have the fires been prevented due to the record 100 mph winds? 99% sure they could not. Shit was going burn, plain and simple. Could have the severity been limited? Yes.
...
The fire chief simply wasn't adept at "politics" and panicked. And yes, finger pointing is not going to accomplish anything. One thing good, a lot of changes are going to come out of this and be applied elsewhere. Too bad it took this for it to happen.

I just don't agree that the state screwed up with regard to the 1/7 fires. I have been directly involved, including working with Cal Fire for decades. We never used to have fires in January. That was the month firefighters used for training. Now, with global warming, there is no off season for fires.

Sure, more money can be thrown at firefighting, but we never had 100 mph winds in LA like that before. Maybe now there will be more political will for the hard choices we need to make to try to prevent such conflagrations in the future. Again, the operative word being "try." There's no guarantees here. And people don't like to spend money without a guarantee.

[Xolodno]

13. That's the thing, you can't have a guarantee.

Not going to happen. Wildfire is part of California's eco system. Hell, I'm surprised our family place up north hasn't had one for awhile, particularly after record two year rains. But then again, they went in there after bark beetle infestation and tore every dead tree out, controlled burns everyday and even if the trees were live, still cleared the area out. Used to be places on the lake you couldn't see from the road due to the density, well, you can see it now.

A relative of mine is a roofing contractor and had to go into the Pacific Palisades and Alta Dena areas to repair some roofs of the houses that survived. All of them Class A Cool Roofs. Ember landed and burned a little but that was it. The others, burned to the ground. So he knows he is going to busy for a long while.

Problem is, too many want an abosulte guarantee.

[Daleuhlmann]

3. This Doesn't Look Good!

Had Mayor Bass succumbed to MAGA pressure to make Crowley an easy scapegoat?

[SunSeeker]

5. No.

Crowley had to go. Crowley lied to the press right after the fires started that her budget had been cut, when in fact it had been increased. Instead of defending her firefighters and/or accepting criticism and saying LAFD will learn from what went wrong during the fires, Crowley pointed fingers at Bass and the city council. LA deserves a better leader as LAFD Fire Chief.

[SunSeeker]

4. I agree with Bass. Crowley had to go.

Crowley lied to the press right after fire that her budget had been cut, when in fact it had been increased. Instead of defending her firefighters and/or accepting criticism and saying LAFD will learn from it, Crowley pointed fingers at Bass and the city council. LA deserves a better leader as LAFD Fire Chief.

[Daleuhlmann]

7. On Re-evaluating This Issue, I Now Agree with You!

After having reconsidered the fact that Crowley had lied about her departnent's budget and had tried to throw Mayor Bass under the bus, I now agree with you that she had to be replaced.

[intrepidity]

9. What was the story about dismissing 1,000 firefighters?

Something about Crowley mismanaging deployment of 1,000 firefighters, what's that about, do you know?

[SunSeeker]

10. Crowley failed to call in 1,000 firefighters on 1/7/25, despite knowing about predicted high winds.

Those firefighters were scheduled to be on their day off, but Crowley could have canceled their day off in light of the high fire danger because of the predicted high winds. That is why Bass said when she announced the firing, "We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch."

Crowley responded to her firing with the following statement, which does not dispute that she failed to call in the 1,000 firefighters:
"As a humble public servant for over the past 30 years, 25 of those with the LAFD, it has been an absolute honor to represent and lead the men and women of one of the greatest fire departments in the world. As the Fire Chief, I based my actions and decisions on taking care of our firefighters so that they could take care of our communities. Serving others before self, having the courage and integrity to do what is right, and leading with compassion, love and respect have guided me throughout my career. I am extremely proud of the work, sacrifice and dedication of our LAFD members, both sworn and civilian." https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/california-wildfires/kristin-crowley-statement-former-lafd-chief/3638750/