Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley shocked many observers on Friday with a remarkable television interview as firefighters continued to battle massive wildfires.
Pressed by a Fox 11 reporter, Crowley said the city of Los Angeles — and her boss, Mayor Karen Bass — had failed her and her department. She went on to describe the fire department as understaffed and underfunded, saying the situation was “no longer sustainable.”
Hours later, Crowley sat in a meeting in Bass’ office for so long that he interrupted the mayor’s nightly media briefing on wildfires. Bass ended up missing the launch event, where she was billed as a featured speaker.
As a group of reporters waited for the briefing to begin, a smaller group of reporters camped outside the mayor’s office. Both parties were shocked when the Daily Mail reported on its website that Bass had sacked Crawley.
Bass spokesman Zach Seidel said that’s not true. So did the Fire Department, which issued a statement saying Bass and Crowley’s “top priority remains fighting the current wildfires and protecting Angelenos.”
“It is important to note that the fire chief was not fired and remains in full command of the LAFD,” spokesman Erik Scott said in a statement posted on X.
Crowley did not immediately respond to an inquiry from The Times. Around 4 p.m., she told employees she expected to be fired during a meeting with Bass, according to people familiar with the matter.
The developments only add to the sense of chaos surrounding this week’s devastating wildfires, which are entering their fourth day and have devastated parts of Pacific Palisades and Malibu as well as Alta, an unincorporated area outside Los Angeles. Dinah, killing at least 11 people.
With Crowley’s comments, tensions between her and Bass over fire department funding became public.
Earlier this week, Bass said the department’s budget cuts had not affected the city’s response to wildfires. Crowley pushed back against that assertion Friday, linking cuts to department operations to the fight to fight wildfires.
Crowley was hired by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2022, becoming the first female chief of the department, which has long struggled to recruit female firefighters. As a fire department employee for more than two decades, she has frequently attended press conferences this week to update the media on firefighting efforts.
Crowley took a more confrontational stance on Friday, using her media appearances to hammer home the idea that her department has long done too little.
“We can’t keep the status quo any longer. We don’t have enough firefighters,” she told CNN anchor Jake Tapper.
Crowley told Tapper she had too few mechanics to repair the broken down vehicles. At one point, Tapper asked whether budget cuts were hurting her agency’s ability to fight fires.
“I want to be very, very clear. Yes. We cut the budget by $17 million,” she responded. “As we know, any budget cuts will negatively impact our ability to carry out our mission.”
Seidel has not commented on Crowley’s media appearances. But Matt Szabo, the city administrator who helps prepare the city budget, earlier this week pushed back on the idea that the fire department’s budget was being cut this year. He said once firefighter pay raises and vehicle purchases are taken into account, the department’s budget will increase by more than 7 percent.
Friday wasn’t the first time Crowley sounded the alarm about her department’s budget.
Last month, she sent a memo to Bass-appointed members of the Board of Fire Commissioners expressing serious concerns about the city’s decision to eliminate dozens of vacant non-firefighter positions in its agency.
In that memo, Crowley also expressed shock at what she called a $7 million reduction in variable employee overtime, or “v-hours.” She said in the memo that the cuts “severely limit the department’s ability to prepare, train and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.”
In the Fox 11 interview, Crowley further said the department has not yet received the funding it needs to provide services to the city’s residents. She said the department should double the number of firefighters and add 62 fire stations.
“The fire department needs to be properly funded so I can look any community member in the eye and say, ‘The Los Angeles Fire Department has your back,'” she said.
“Now can’t you?” Fox 11 reporter Gigi Graciette responded.
“Now? No,” Crowley said. “That’s why I’m here.”
City Councilmember Tracy Parker, who represents Pacific Palisades, praised Crowley for his job performance and advocacy. Standing inside the city’s Emergency Operations Center on Friday, Parker said the fire department has been the subject of “decades of chronic underinvestment.”
“The issues she talks about are very important,” she said.
Nearly an hour later, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonald held a media briefing that Bass missed to discuss the curfew in evacuation zones.
