Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass removed LAFD chief Kristin Crowley on Friday, blaming the department leader for mismanaging the city’s response to the devastating wildfires last month.
Crowley’s ousting, effective immediately, answers a need for “new leadership to the Fire Department,” the mayor said in a statement.
“The heroism of our firefighters — during the Palisades fire and every single day — is without question,” she said. “Bringing new leadership to the Fire Department is what our city needs.”
Acting in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety, and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed Kristin Crowley as Fire Chief.
1,000 firefighters were sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch the day the fires broke out.
Chief Crowley refused to…
— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) February 21, 2025
The statement added, “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.”
Bass appointed former chief deputy Ronnie Villanueva – who has 41 years of experience in the department – as the interim fire chief.
According to CalFire, the 2025 L.A. wildfires – primarily the Palisades and Eaton blazes – burned 57,660 acres, destroyed 16,249 structures and killed at least 29 people. Additionally, AccuWeather estimates the blazes caused more than $250 billion in damages and other economic loss.
While LA city leadership continue to sort out how the fires got out of hand so quickly in January, a number of celebrities – both affected by the fires and otherwise – have stepped up in support. Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson announced Friday they were donating $1 million toward wildfire relief.
“Like so many of us, we see the loss and devastation wrought by the Altadena and Palisades fires. The challenges to the future of these communities is immense,” they wrote on Instagram on Friday. “We are so very grateful for the First Responders and Firefighters, from all over, who fought with all they had in order to save homes and people.”
The Motion Picture and Television Fund, the Los Angeles Fire Foundation, the SAG-AFTRA Foundation Disaster Relief Fund, the American Red Cross and MusiCares are the charitable organizations receiving the support from Hanks and Wilson.
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