Los Angeles City Council declines to reinstate Fire Chief Kristin Crowley after heated hearing

Kristin Crowley, the former fire chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, appealed Mayor Karen Bass’s decision to remove her, but the City Council voted 13-2 to receive and file the appeal rather than reinstate her.

Crowley spoke to the council and to firefighters in chambers, saying she had acted to protect the department and that several accusations against her were false. “I did not refuse to conduct an after action report,” Crowley told the council, arguing that an independent, state-funded review was the appropriate path because the department lacks the staffing and resources to conduct a full, independent analysis alone.

The debate focused on three issues cited by the mayor: whether Crowley declined to keep extra firefighters on duty the morning of Jan. 7; whether she failed to notify the mayor’s office about dangerous weather conditions; and whether she refused to participate in an after-action review. Crowley and multiple union speakers said the department had pre-deployed personnel and that apparatus shortages—engines, trucks and ambulances sitting in maintenance yards—limited how many additional firefighters could be deployed.

Councilmember Marqueece Harris‑Dawson opened the hearing and invited legal and administrative briefings. Chief Deputy City Attorney Denise…