Six weeks after the most destructive wildfire in city history, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass ousted the city’s fire chief on Friday amid a public rift over preparations for a potential fire and finger-pointing between the chief and City Hall over responsibility for the devastation.
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Bass said she is removing Chief Kristin Crowley immediately. “Bringing new leadership to the Fire Department is what our city needs,” the mayor said in a statement.
At a news conference on Friday afternoon, Bass said that Crowley had refused to do an after-action report on the wildfires.
“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,” Bass said.
Bass said Crowley has previously called her in advance of weather that raises fire risk, but that she did not do that in early January.
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“She has my cellphone, she knows she can call me 24/7,” Bass said.