Fired Los Angeles fire chief Kristin Crowley is suing the city for her ouster, claiming Mayor Karen Bass launched a smear campaign against her after the deadly wildfires earlier this year.
Crowley, whom Bass gave the axe in February for her allegedly bungled response to the Palisades Fire, accused the mayor of throwing her under the bus, her lawyers announced Wednesday.
“The claim sets out a pattern of dishonesty, scapegoating, and unlawful retaliation that destroyed the career of a 25-year public servant not because of any failure in her duties, but because she told the truth,” her legal team said in a press release.
Former Los Angeles Fire Dept. Chief Kristin Crowley arrives to appeal for reinstatement as fire chief at city council meeting Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in Los Angeles. APMayor Bass had accused Crowley of failing to mobilize around 1,000 reserve firefighters after the blaze broke out, as well as failing to file an after-action report.
But Crowley says Bass was covering for her own choice to cut the Los Angeles Fire Department budget by $17 million — and punishing Crowley for calling attention to the problem.
California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tour the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades as the Palisades Fire continues to burn on January 8, 2025. Getty Images“[Crowley] told City leadership and the public that Mayor Bass’ budget cuts and the City’s decades of neglect had left the LAFD underfunded, understaffed, and ill-equipped to handle the rising demands of a growing city, especially one at risk of dangerous wildfires,” wrote her attorneys, Genie Harrison and Mia Munro.
The suit alleges the Bass administration violated California labor laws and Crowley’s First Amendment rights.
It asks for unspecified damages exceeding $25,000.
A firefighter battles the Palisades Fire while it burns homes at Pacific Coast Highway amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. Getty ImagesThe suit also flatly denies key accusations Bass leveled at Crowley in February: That she failed to conduct an after-action report, that she failed to notify the mayor of a dangerous weather event, and that she failed to deploy 1,000 spare firefighters and 40 spare firetrucks.
Crowley mobilized every resource at her disposal and that it was chronic mismanagement from Bass that ultimately sabotaged the fire response, she claims in the suit.
The lawsuit is the latest drama in a firestorm of controversy within LAFD that was burning even before the Palisades Fire.
Crowley — LA’s first female fire chief — was appointed in 2022 after her predecessor resigned amid allegations of racism and sexism.
The same year, the LAFD settled a lawsuit that accused higher-ups in its Fire Prevention Bureau of punishing those who spoke out about faked inspections, lazy code enforcement, and incompetent, untrained recruits.
Crowley herself was named in a lawsuit against the department by a longtime ex-employee who claimed she ran the department like her own private clubhouse, elevating her favorites and sabotaging those who didn’t follow her whims.
The employee, former LAFD Fire Administrator Jenny Park, said Crowley bullied her and eventually gave her the chop after she raised concerns about the fire chief’s habitual financial misconduct, according to the suit filed in January.
