Former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley is suing the city, saying Mayor Karen Bass “planned a campaign of revenge” to protect her political and paper futures for her failure during the most devastating fire in the city’s history.
In the lawsuit, filed Monday in LA County Superior Court, Crowley and his attorneys allege that Bass sought to blame the city’s handling of last year’s Palisades fire disaster on Crowley amid growing criticism of the mayor’s decision to attend an event in Ghana on Jan. 7, the day the fire broke out. Bass, the suit says, left LA despite knowing about the potential high winds and fire danger.
“He sought to avoid accountability by shifting the blame and lying – including lying that he was unaware of the expected statewide weather forecast, lying that the LAFD budget had not been cut, and lying that LAFD resources would support 1,000 firefighters to fight this fire – claims contradicting the public’s statement,” the statement said. “These false statements were not mistakes but part of a deliberate strategy to deflect scrutiny of Bass’ decisions and avoid accountability.”
The Palisades fire started in the early hours of Jan. 7, 2025 during the Santa Ana hurricane, killing 12 people and destroying thousands of homes worth billions of dollars. Although authorities blame a Florida man for starting the fire, saying it was actually a rekindling of the Jan. 1 fire, decisions by LAFD brass and the mayor before, during and after Jan. 7 have been processed.
According to records obtained by The Times, shortly before releasing a review report after the Palisades fire, the Los Angeles Fire Department released a confidential memo detailing plans to protect Bass and others from “reputational damage.” The 13-page document is in an LAFD directory and includes email addresses for department officials, representatives from Bass’s office, and public relations consultants hired to help prepare messages about the fire.
But as questions about the fire response swirled, instead of getting into lockstep with Bass, Crowley revealed to the public that “budget cuts have weakened the department’s preparedness and jeopardized the safety of the public and firefighters” and said his repeated warnings were ignored, the lawsuit says. Bass allegedly retaliated by firing him as fire chief on Feb. 21, 2025.
Since the fire, the city has faced criticism for not adequately transporting firefighters, the chaotic relocation of Pacific Palisades and water shortages caused in part by a local dam left empty for repairs. In December, The Times revealed that the city’s after-action report was altered to avoid criticism of the LAFD for failing to deploy engines and personnel to the Palisades, among other irregularities.
Crowley’s attorneys say Bass’s view of his performance has changed with the political outlook — starting with praise before reversing course and criticizing Crowley as the mayor drew criticism for going out of the country during the fire. The lawsuit was preceded by a legal complaint, which is a precursor to the lawsuit sought by federal law, that was filed in the city in August.
Asked about the case, Bass’s senior counsel Yusef Robb said in a statement that “there is nothing new here.”
“Ms. Crowley was removed from her position because of her failure to be dispatched early and her decision to send 1,000 firefighters home instead of staying on duty the morning the fires broke out,” said Robb. “This case is baseless.”
When Crowley was fired, the mayor said it was because Crowley failed to tell him about the dangerous conditions that day or to deploy hundreds of firefighters in case it happened. He also said Crowley denied a request to prepare a report on the fire — a key part of the ongoing investigation into the cause of the fire and the city’s response.
But Crowley’s attorneys, Genie Harrison and Mia Munro, said their client “warned repeatedly of the LAFD’s resource and staffing crisis” before the fire and warned that aging infrastructure, an increase in emergency calls and a shrinking workforce left the city vulnerable.
“An analysis of the 90th percentile of all incidents shows that the overall response time of LAFD services has increased from 6:51 (minutes) in 2018 to 7:53 in 2022. This dramatic increase is almost twice the time by national standards for first-arrival units,” the lawsuit said.
Three days after the fire, Crowley told a local television news station that his department was “whining about being underfunded,” prompting Bass to call Crowley into his office, according to the lawsuit.
“I don’t know why you had to do that; usually we’re on the same page, and I don’t know why you had to say things to the media,” Bass told Crowley, according to the lawsuit. Bass reportedly told Crowley he wasn’t firing him at the time because “I can’t do that right now.”
Before Crowley was ousted, the city’s chief financial analyst retracted his budget-cutting narrative, saying spending at the Fire Department increased during that budget year — largely because of an increased firefighter package. That increase added about $53 million to the department’s budget.
The day after Crowley and Bass met in his office, the lawsuit says, retired LAFD Chief Deputy Ronnie Villanueva started working at the Emergency Operations Center, wearing the mayor’s office badge. On Feb. 3, 2025, more than two weeks before Crowley was removed from his position, Villanueva wrote a report to the Board of Fire Commissioners describing himself as interim fire chief — a position he held until Fire Chief Jaime Moore was appointed last fall.
The lawsuit alleges that Bass and others in his management defamed Crowley, retaliated against him in violation of the California labor code and violated Crowley’s First Amendment rights. Crowley is seeking unspecified damages.
Bass has repeatedly denied that he was involved in any effort to publish the after-action report, which was intended to identify mistakes in the Palisades fire response and suggest steps to avoid repeating them. But two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office said that after receiving the initial report, the mayor told Villanueva he could expose the city to legal liability.
Bass wanted to redact or soften key findings about the LAFD’s actions before the report was made public, sources told The Times this month. The mayor said The Times’ story based on sources’ accounts was “completely fabricated.”
Crowley and his attorneys allege that the LAFD “did not have enough emergency vehicles to safely and effectively deploy an additional 1,000 (or anywhere near 1,000) firefighters on January 7.” The department did not have the funds or personnel to “repair and maintain emergency fire vehicles, fire trucks and ambulances,” the lawsuit said.
“This case is about accountability,” said Harrison, Crowley’s attorney. “Public servants should not face punishment or be silenced for telling the truth about public safety or firefighters and matters of public importance.”
Times staff writers Alene Tcheckmedyian, David Zahniser and Paul Pringle contributed to this report. Pringle is a former staff writer for The Times.
