The former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has filed a legal claim against the city and Mayor Karen Bass nearly six months after she was removed as chief, claiming that she was a scapegoat for criticisms against the city’s response to January’s devastating wildfires.
According to a tort claim, a legal precursor to a lawsuit, Crowley is seeking more than $25,000 in emotional damages after she was removed as fire chief in late February in the aftermath of the Palisades Fire. The claim was filed based on accusations of defamation, retaliation and negligence.
“Integrity, truthfulness, and serving others before self have guided me throughout my career,” Crowley said in a statement. “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. The lies, deceit, exaggerations, and misrepresentations need to be addressed with the only thing that can refute them – the true facts.”
Budget cut
Crowley’s legal team stated in a news release that she was the target of a smear campaign after she told the public that Bass cut the LAFD’s budget by $17.6 million.
The legal claim says that on Jan. 10, three days after the Palisades Fire began, Bass called Crowley into her office for an unscheduled meeting.
“I don’t know why you had to do that.” Bass allegedly said during the meeting, according to Crowley’s legal claim. “Normally we are on the same page, and I don’t know why you had to say stuff to the media.”
At the time, Bass claimed that the budget cuts didn’t have any effect on the blaze that torched more than 23,000 acres across coastal Los Angeles and Malibu, destroying nearly 7,000 structures with 12 confirmed fatalities. Crowley’s legal team said the cuts left LAFD “underfunded, understaffed and ill-equipped to handle the rising demands of a growing city.”
The legal claim suggests that Bass spent the next several weeks working behind the scenes to remove Crowley as chief. On Jan. 11, Bass hired former LAFD Deputy Chief Ronnie Villanueva to work at the city’s Emergency Operations Center. After Crowley was removed the next month, Villanueva was pegged as interim chief, a title he still holds several months later.
“False claims”
The legal claim says that Bass made multiple false claims justifying the removal of Crowley as chief, including suggestions that Crowley sent 1,000 firefighters home.
“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,” Bass said in a statement on Feb. 22, the day she officially removed Crowley.
“This claim is false,” Crowley’s legal team claims. “The LAFD did not have enough functioning fire engines, trucks, or ambulances to support such a deployment. Dozens of vehicles sat broken or salvaged for parts in maintenance yards because of years of deferred investment and budget cuts.”
Crowley’s legal team stated that Mayor Bass also claimed Crowley failed to properly notify her of the catastrophic weather event that contributed to the growth of the Palisades Fire. Her team denied that, saying that the LAFD coordinated with city agencies in early January, knowing high winds were on their way.
“These were not simple mistakes. These were falsehoods that were repeated publicly to deflect blame from the Mayor’s absence during a predicted emergency and the consequences of her own decisions.”
The after-action report
During the controversy surrounding Crowley’s reassignment, Mayor Bass often cited the former chief’s supposed refusal to conduct an after-action report, which would examine LAFD’s response to the Palisades Fire.
Crowley’s legal team called the accusation “false,” saying that she never refused to conduct the report and that the report was discussed in the aftermath of the fire.
On Tuesday, the after-action report was delayed at the request of the U.S. Attorney’s Office as investigators continue to probe into what started the fire.
CBS News Los Angeles reached out to the office of Mayor Bass, but had yet to hear back as of the publication of this story.
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