Highlights:
- Former LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley warned about resource shortages months before the January wildfires.
- Mayor Karen Bass fired Crowley on Feb. 21, citing her alleged refusal to complete an after-action wildfire report.
- City Controller Kenneth Mejia reported a $17.6 million budget reduction for LAFD in the 2025 fiscal year, making it the second-largest departmental cut after street services.
LOS ANGELES — Months before the January wildfires ignited, former LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley warned about the department’s resource shortages, a concern now featured in a new podcast, Making Maverick Moves, launched on Feb. 24 by Metro whistleblower Gina Osborne.
Osborne, a former chief safety officer at Metro, was fired after speaking out about alleged issues within the agency, FOX 11 Los Angeles reported.
Osborne’s conversation with Crowley took place in November. Osborne said Crowley appeared to be a strong leader who was dedicated to supporting her team.
“I think it was very premature. And just based on my conversations with her, she was sounding the alarms prior to, I mean, the entire time that she was the chief, that she didn’t have the resources that she needed, that she was underfunded and that she was understaffed,” Osborne said. “So I really don’t see how it’s justified.”
Mayor Karen Bass fired L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley on Feb. 21, citing Crowley’s alleged refusal to complete an after-action report on the recent L.A. wildfires. According to Bass, the fire commissioner requested the report, but Crowley declined, leading to her dismissal. It remains unclear why Crowley refused.
In her first public statement since the firing, Crowley called her tenure as chief “an absolute honor.”
Bass has faced heavy criticism for being out of the country when the Palisades and Eaton fires erupted on Jan. 7. She was in Ghana as part of a U.S. delegation sent by President Joe Biden for the inauguration of John Dramani Mahama.
She returned to Los Angeles the following day, but many have criticized her absence and lack of immediate response during the crisis.
Bass told FOX 11 that Crowley did not notify her in advance of the trip or make the “normal preparations” for a wind-driven fire event. She also stated that no prior warnings were given to her before she left.
Meanwhile, in a Jan. 10 interview with FOX 11, Crowley said budget cuts had hampered the department’s ability to combat the wildfires.
Crowley emphasized that she had repeatedly raised concerns about the fire department’s needs in the past.
During a press conference and on multiple occasions in the past, Bass stated that the fire department did not experience any budget cuts.
Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia reported that the LAFD’s budget was reduced by $17.6 million for the 2025 fiscal year, which began on July 1, 2024. Among all city departments, the fire department faced the second-largest funding cut, surpassed only by street services.
