{"id":162614,"date":"2025-08-21T02:02:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-21T02:02:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/162614\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T02:02:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T02:02:10","slug":"ousted-l-a-fire-chief-accuses-mayor-bass-of-defamation-retaliation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/162614\/","title":{"rendered":"Ousted L.A. Fire Chief Accuses Mayor Bass of Defamation, Retaliation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tKristen Crowley, the former chief of the Los Angeles<\/a> Fire Department ousted<\/a> from her position earlier this year, filed a legal claim against the city and Mayor Karen Bass<\/a>, accusing the mayor of orchestrating \u201ca campaign of misinformation, defamation, and retaliation\u201d and using Crowley as a \u201cscapegoat\u201d to shift blame after the devastating fires<\/a> in January.<\/p>\n

\n\tA precursor to a lawsuit, Crowley\u2019s claim seeks unspecified damages above $25,000 for lost wages and benefits, emotional distress, and reputational damages. In the 23-page filing, Crowley alleges that she repeatedly warned of the LAFD\u2019s worsening resource and staffing crisis, and submitted reports detailing how aging infrastructure, surging emergency calls, and shrinking staff had put Los Angeles at risk. Despite these warnings, the filing alleges, Mayor Bass and her administration cut the fire department\u2019s operating budget by $17.6 million that year and \u201celiminated positions critical to maintaining fire engines, trucks, and ambulances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement to Rolling Stone, Crowley said, \u201cThe lies, deceit, exaggerations and misrepresentations need to be addressed with the only thing that can refute them \u2013 the true facts.\u201d She continued, \u201cDoing the right thing even when it is hard, is always the right decision and that is why I am continuing to fight for the resources our Firefighters need to keep us all safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tCrowley\u2019s lawyer, Genie Harrison, said in a separate statement that Crowley\u2019s tort claim \u201cshows Mayor Bass\u2019 repeated refusals to provide those resources. The citizens of Los Angeles deserve to know the truth about how underresourced the LAFD has become and how that came to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement, the mayor\u2019s counsel, David Michaelson, said that Bass would not comment on an \u201congoing personnel claim\u201d and that she was focusing on \u201cpreparations for the hottest temperatures of the year and the potential for regional fire danger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n

\n\tPer Wednesday\u2019s filing, Crowley is also claiming that Bass, the city, and its employees, staff, agents, and administrators \u201callowed, permitted, incited, excused, and otherwise ratified the aforesaid misconduct.\u201d The former fire chief is demanding that Bass \u201cretract her false statements about Crowley,\u201d issue a public apology, and end any ongoing retaliation.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs Los Angeles continues to recover from the deadly fires and reckons with its social and political aftermath, reports<\/a> of a major heat wave were issued this week, warning of an increased risk for wildfires that could quickly spread. \u201cWe know how quickly fires can start and spread,\u201d Bass said<\/a> at a news conference Tuesday. \u201cIf anything, we are going above and beyond what is required right now concerning the level of threat,\u201d Bass added. \u201cI want Angelenos to be assured.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kristen Crowley, the former chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department ousted from her position earlier this year,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":162615,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,356,5413,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-162614","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-courts","11":"tag-karen-bass","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115064297482104491","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162614","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162614"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162614\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}