Los Angeles City Council denies former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley’s appeal

In a 13-2 vote, the Council voted to deny Crowley’s appeal to get her job back and to support Mayor Karen Bass’s decision to remove her as head of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

“I’m going to continue to advocate to get LAFD to where we need to go,” Crowley told the media as she left the Council Chamber following the decision. “I look forward to continuing to contribute in whatever way I can.”

The meeting marked the climax of a weeks-long power struggle between Crowley and Mayor Karen Bass. What began as a debate over the city’s wildfire response has spiraled into a high-stakes political showdown, one that could shake firefighter morale, deepen divisions within the City Council and endanger the mayor’s own political standing.

The city’s first female and openly gay fire chief, Crowley had led the Los Angeles Fire Department for nearly three years before she was fired by Bass last month amid tensions over the city’s response to the Palisades fire in January.

She formally filed her appeal last week, triggering a City Council review process that required a supermajority—10 out of 15 votes—to reinstate her.

As councilmembers took turns speaking, quiet murmurs rippled through the audience. Some nodded in agreement, while others leaned in to exchange hushed remarks. The tension in the room was punctuated only by occasional bursts of applause or exasperated sighs.

On Friday, Feb. 21, Mayor Bass announced her dismissal of Crowley. She cited two main reasons for the dismissal.

First, Bass criticized Crowley’s handling of staffing during the crisis, saying that 1,000 firefighters could have been on duty the morning of Jan. 7 but “were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch.”

Second, Bass pointed to Crowley’s refusal to comply with an order from the president of the city’s fire commission, which directed her to submit an after-action report reviewing everything leading up to Jan. 7.

The mayor’s decision to fire Crowley comes after weeks of escalating political tensions between Crowley and Bass. Crowley has publicly criticized the city for making budget cuts that she says weakened LAFD’s ability to respond to wildfires.

Meanwhile, Bass has reportedly blamed Crowley and others for failing to properly inform her about the severity of recent windstorms before she traveled abroad, suggesting that better communication might have prevented some of the devastation.

Bass herself has faced criticism – including calls for her resignation—for traveling to Ghana just days before the fires as part of a U.S. delegation sent by then-President Joe Biden to attend the country’s presidential inauguration.