The fire chief whom Karen Bass fired, the only person ever officially blamed for the city’s disastrous response to the 2025 Pacific Palisades Fire, has fired back. Kristin Crowley has followed through on her threat to sue the Los Angeles mayor for defamation and retaliation for her dismissal.
Before she was blamed and fired for the deadly and disastrous response to the Pacific Palisades fire, Crowley told NBC 4LA that Bass’s $17 million budget cuts were the biggest reason why she was unable to scramble assets before and during the fire.
The idled fire trucks and ambulances — sidelined because she couldn’t afford to hire mechanics to fix them — were still in the boneyard as the fire raged, incinerating 7,000 homes, along with businesses, libraries, schools, and churches. Twelve people died.
This is an unbelievable clip from 2025. The fires were still burning in the Palisades and the local news interviewed the then LA Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley.
She told the news that the Fire Department was asked to take a $17 million budget cut prior to the Palisades… pic.twitter.com/bOWapqkeJE
— MAZE (@mazemoore) May 5, 2026
Crowley, one of Bass’s DEI picks for the job because she’s a lesbian, has won some respect from observers who saw that she fought hard for her budget, but couldn’t convey to Bass the need to take all those fire engines and other firefighting apparatus and ambulances out of the boneyard and put them into service. You can see the sidelined equipment at the 25-second mark of the video above.
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Bass said she needed the $17 million to fund homeless programs and aid for immigrants. Now, she barely lifts a finger to help those who lost their homes in the Palisades.
And, as if to make her point for her, Crowley has filed her lawsuit at the same time that Bass and her city officials have completely biffed the response to another huge fire, this one at a Boyle Heights cold storage warehouse that had been burning for a week.
What didn’t burn of the estimated 85 million pounds of food stuffed in the warehouse is now spoiling, bringing around rats and other vermin, in addition to spewing toxic clouds.
Fyi – https://t.co/n10asvy06t
— Alexandra Datig | Front Page Index 🇺🇸 (@alexdatig) June 24, 2026
The city spent days “monitoring” the fire because of concerns about hazardous toxins being spewed into the air. Among the concerns were ammonia fumes, off-gassing from the lithium-ion batteries that power the electric forklifts, and solar equipment on the roof that was in danger of falling on firefighters in the unstable structure.
Neighbors were not evacuated; in fact, they were ordered to shelter in place.
Eventually, Bass declared an emergency, saying, “While the LAFD continues making progress, this is a major, multi-jurisdictional incident… The City and County have opened spaces for families seeking relief from the smoke, and we will continue working around the clock and doing everything possible to put this fire out completely.”
Like the Palisades Fire, Bass was out of town when the fire started, rubbing elbows with world leaders, something she vowed not to do again. This time, Bass was in Chicago at the opening of the Barack Obama Center, the 44th president’s library.
This is what Karen Basura was doing while Boyle Heights was choking in toxic smoke…sippin’ cocktails in Chi-town! If you thought she just hated us on the West Side, think again. She enjoys when the Latino community goes up in flames, too! Look at that smile! https://t.co/MTGisrxOId
— Spencer Pratt (@spencerpratt) June 23, 2026
In August 2025, The FireLawBlog noted that Crowley filed her intention to file a tort claim, which is a requirement to sue. In the 23 page document, she alleged that Bass retaliated against her by demoting her after speaking publicly about the budget cuts when she had a First Amendment right to do.
- Defamation (including defamation per se).
- Retaliation in violation of California Labor Code §§ 98.6, 232.5, 1050 (blacklisting), 1101, 1102, and 1102.5 (whistleblower).
- Retaliation in violation of Article I, §2 of the California Constitution (free speech).
- Retaliation in violation of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
- Negligence under California common law.
Crowley also alleged that Bass lied about her refusing to conduct an after-action report about the fire.
Specific allegations include false statements by Bass that Chief Crowley had refused to conduct an after-action report, sent 1,000 firefighters home who could have been deployed, and misrepresented the department’s budget.
The L.A. City Council agreed to spend $500,000,00 on outside counsel to defend itself against Crowley’s lawsuit.
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Bass responded by calling the lawsuit “meritless:”
We defer to the City Attorney’s Office on how they will lead the defense of the city against this meritless lawsuit. The fact is, Ms. Crowley was removed from her post for failing to deploy in advance and her decision to send 1,000 firefighters home instead of keeping them on duty on the morning the fires broke out.
There’s plenty of blame to go around in this case, but you don’t need to be a math whiz to figure out how Bass responded to the disaster — then and now. It’s the same mindset she’s applied to the rebuilding of the Palisades: Disdain for wealthier people and an insatiable appetite to re-engineer it into something only a communist would love.
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