Ousted Fire Chief Kristin Crowley reveals next move after Mayor Bass’ brutal dismissal

Ousted Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has chosen to remain with the department despite her high-profile firing from her role as Chief by Mayor Karen Bass.

The Mayor’s Office told DailyMail.com Crowley will continue with the LAFD but in a subordinate role.

‘Following Mayor Bass’ removal of Kristin Crowley as Fire Chief, the Mayor’s Office was informed that she has exercised her Civil Service rights to stay with the Fire Department at a lower rank,’ the office explained. 

‘Her duties will be assigned by Interim Chief Villanueva,’ the office explained.

The decision to remove Crowley, who had served as the city’s fire chief since 2022, comes six weeks after devastating fires ravaged Los Angeles, leaving at least 29 people dead and entire neighborhoods in ruins. 

Mayor Bass placed the full weight of blame for the city’s devastating wildfires on the shoulders Crowley and in a scathing address, painted her as the architect of failure.

She accused her of catastrophic mismanagement that led to loss of life, destruction of homes, and widespread chaos in America’s second-largest city citing her removal at Chief as a matter of ‘public safety.’

‘Acting in the best interest of Los Angeles public safety and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I just met with Chief Crowley and removed her as fire chief,’ Bass declared at a press conference on Friday in an unsparing statement. 

The mayor has blamed Crowley’s leadership failures for exacerbating the crisis, saying the fire department under her command was ill-prepared for the magnitude of the disaster.

Mayor Karen Bass’ decision comes after mounting criticism from residents who have been demanding accountability for the deadly January 7 wildfires

Her decision comes after mounting criticism from residents who have been demanding accountability for the deadly January 7 wildfires. 

Yet despite her dramatic fall from grace, Crowley is not walking away from the LAFD.

By exercising her Civil Service rights, she has ensured her continued employment with the department, albeit at a lower rank. 

Her future role under Interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva remains uncertain, but the move signals that she is not willing to be sidelined completely.

Bass strutted into Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley’s office with two lawyers in tow and announced: ‘Our relationship is not working out.’

‘Bass and two of her lawyers walked into Crowley’s office today,’ a source told DailyMail.com. ‘She said ‘Our relationship is not working out,’ and fired her.

‘Not even ‘you didn’t do a good job.’ Not, ‘you failed me.’

‘It took two minutes and she was done. There was no emoting. She had two lawyers with her. She’s covering her a**.

‘Crowley said, ‘that’s it. I’m packing, I’m done.’

Bass appointed Chief Deputy Ronnie Villanueva, a 41-year LAFD veteran, as Interim Fire Chief

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass takes speaks during a press conference announcing the firing of Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley on Friday Los Angeles

The Palisades Fire burns a structure in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of LA last month

‘She wasn’t shocked, but she was sad of course. From what I could tell, she thought there’s nothing else she could do. She may change her mind, but that was her initial reaction.’

The source believed Crowley did a good job as fire chief.

‘She fired the only person doing anything about the fires,’ the source said.

While Crowley’s supporters argue that she was unfairly scapegoated for broader systemic failures, her critics insist that her refusal to comply with an after-action report on the fires justified her dismissal.

 ‘A necessary step to the investigation was the president of the fire commission telling Chief Crowley to do an after-action report on the fires. The fire chief refused,’ Bass stated firmly.

Bass has called for a full investigation into ‘everything’ that led up to the fires, including the failures in preparation and response.

The tensions between Mayor Bass and Crowley were no secret, having surfaced publicly even as flames engulfed the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods killing at least 28 people and destroying almost 19,000 buildings.

Mayor Bass blamed Crowley for allegedly sending home 1,000 firefighters instead of keeping them on duty the morning the devastating fires broke out on January 7 that wiped whole neighborhoods off the map.

Criticism was particularly sharp in the upscale Pacific Palisades area, where fire hydrants ran dry due to excessive demand.

Ousted Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has chosen to remain with the department despite her high-profile firing from her role as Chief

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass tour the downtown business district of Pacific Palisades on January 8

Flames and smoke from the Palisades Fire surround a home  in the community of Topanga

‘We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch.

‘Furthermore, a necessary step to an investigation was the President of the Fire Commission telling Chief Crowley to do an after action report on the fires. The Chief refused. These require her removal.

‘The heroism of our firefighters – during the Palisades fire and every single day – is without question. Bringing new leadership to the Fire Department is what our city needs.’

Bass appointed Chief Deputy Ronnie Villanueva, a 41-year LAFD veteran, as Interim Fire Chief.

‘He is respected, and he is ready to hit the ground running,’ Bass said. 

Jon O’Brien, Chief Deputy of Emergency Operations, County of Los Angeles Fire Department agreed with the appointment. 

‘I have had the honor of calling Chief Ronnie Villanueva a friend and fire service partner for over a decade,’ O’Brien said. 

‘In that time I have found him to be a true professional committed to both the communities he is sworn to serve and his firefighters. He is a leader who has risen through the ranks and knows what it takes to get the job done.’ 

Retired Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief John Nowell also praised Villanueva taking the reins.

‘In my 35-year career on the LAFD I had the honor and pleasure of working with Chief Villanueva for several decades. His vision, commitment to safety, and deep understanding of challenges facing the City of Los Angeles and citizens we serve are qualities that will serve the City and Fire Department well.’

“I’ve known Chief Villanueva for 15 years, I can think of no better person to assist our city and the Fire Department, and to serve at the helm at this time,’ added  former City of Los Angeles Fire Commissioner Steven R. Fazio.

Crowley meanwhile further alienated city officials when she took to the media to shift blame onto the city’s funding priorities. 

‘My message is the fire department needs to be properly funded. It’s not,’ she told a local Fox News station. The situation worsened when she appeared on CNN, stating that budget cuts had directly impaired her ability to combat the fires effectively.

Within hours of her CNN appearance, Bass summoned Crowley for an emergency closed-door meeting – one that ran so late that the mayor was forced to skip a scheduled press briefing. 

When the two finally appeared together at a subsequent press conference, the tension was unmistakable despite their outward insistence that they were aligned in their efforts to address the crisis.

In an aerial view, part of the Charles W. Eliot Arts Magnet Academy is left in ruins after it burned in the Eaton Fire on near Altadena, California

A burned wire and topiary bush shaped as a rabbit holds an American flag amidst the ruins of The Bunny Museum, a museum dedicated to rabbits, which was destroyed by the Eaton Fire near Altadena, California

A current senior firefighter told DailyMail.com that he saw the firing as the comeuppance for disloyalty.

‘Crowley made a big mistake on speaking against Bass,’ he said, referring to Crowley’s bombshell January 10 Fox interview that led to claims of her firing last month.

‘It’s really simple, Crowley was afraid of getting blamed so shew threw Bass under the bus. Then Bass retaliated against her and threw Crowley under the bus.

According to the LA charter, Crowley has 10 days to appeal her termination to the LA city council. 

A veteran LA firefighter who also spoke to DailyMail.com said news of Crowley’s termination spread quickly.

‘It’s a relief,’ he said of Crowley’s sudden firing. ‘There is finally going to be some change but Bass needs to clean house to put us back on track. When you cut off the head of the snake, you must get rid of the body as well. [Crowley] was

As scrutiny over the city’s wildfire response grew, so did criticism of Mayor Bass herself. 

Many residents have lambasted her for being absent when the fires ignited, as she was on a foreign trip to Ghana at the time. 

In an aerial view, a sign reads, ‘HEAL’ outside of an ALDI food market that burned in the Eaton Fire, near Altadena, California. A historic series of wintertime wind-driven wildfires decimated communities in Los Angeles County last month

 A message from the owner of a home that burned in the Eaton Fire warns would-be trespassers to not enter the property without homeowner permission

Ahead of the January 7 outbreak, the National Weather Service had issued dire warnings of severe wildfire conditions, cautioning that fierce winds and exceptionally dry weather created an extremely high fire risk.

Despite these alarms, Bass continued her trip, while state and local officials scrambled to pre-position resources in anticipation of widespread blazes. 

The mayor, however, framed her decision to travel as a consequence of Crowley’s failure to properly brief her on the escalating danger.

‘What has happened in the two-plus years I’ve been here, every time there was a weather emergency, or even a hint of a weather emergency, the chief has called me directly,’ Bass told reporters. 

‘She has my cell phone. She knows she can call me 24/7, and she briefed me, and then we would talk about what needed to happen next. That did not happen this time.’