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Base sends crawley packing
Generally, bomb news is dumped on Friday nights.
City Hall took that trend Friday morning when Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass rejected fire chief Christine Crowley for handling the devastating Palisade fire.
Both leaders are being scrutinized by outsiders, while also pointing their fingers at each other.
My colleagues Dakota Smith, Julia Wick, David Zanizer and Tony Barboza have broken the drama and what it means to the city.
What led to Bass’ action?
Bass took that step after complaining that he hadn’t heard of the Chief until after the fire broke out and questioning the Chief’s decision to unfold.
“We know that the 1,000 firefighters who may have been working in the morning had fires instead on Crowley’s surveillance,” Bus said in a statement Friday.
The mayor also alleged that the chief refused to participate in the late report on the fire after being asked by the bus appointee Fire Committee, Genetia Hadley Hayes, to do so.
Crawley’s actions during a fire breakout
A Times investigation found that LAFD officials chose not to order around 1,000 firefighters to work for the second shift when the wind was being built. The order would have doubled the personnel when the Palisade fire broke out on the morning of January 7th.
Firefighters were only stationed in the more than 40 engines available to help fight wildfires.
At another time, it was discovered that the LAFD may have sent at least 10 additional engines to the Palisade prior to the fire. This could have been patrols along hillsides and canyons, and could put out the fire when they were still young.
Several former LAFD chief executives told the Times that by keeping firefighters on duty, the department can send dozens of additional engines to Palisades and other high-risk areas.
Firefighters who are not assigned to additional engines will also be available for other tasks.
The fire chief has a defender
Crawley’s firing immediately caused a backlash from the firefighters’ union. The leader supported her last month when she spoke about her needing more urban resources.
“Crowley becomes a scapegoat and she’s finished by telling the truth,” said Freddie Escobar, United Firefighter at Los Angeles City Local 112.
Escobar challenged the rationale for the bus to launch Crowley, saying an external investigation into the fire was already underway. He also claimed that the department lacked sufficient trucks and engines for the 1,000 firefighters sent home before the fire began.
The beginning of the conflict
On January 10th, while the flames were still out of control, Crawley gave an extraordinary television interview, with Fox 11 reporter in Los Angeles City and her boss Bass failing her and her division. I told him that.
She continued to describe her agency as understaffed and underfunded, calling the situation “no longer sustainable.”
Later that day, Crawley had similarly strong words to CNN’s JakTapper, so he told him the fire department didn’t have enough mechanisms to repair a broken emergency vehicle.
When Tupper asked whether the city’s budget cuts would affect her agency’s ability to fight wildfires, she replied. “I want to be very clear. Yes.”
A few hours later, Crawley was summoned to the mayor’s office. The closure meeting lasted so long that Bass did not appear at her own late afternoon wildfire emergency press conference.
It’s gone, but haven’t you gone?
Councillor Monica Rodriguez, whose districts in the northeastern San Fernando Valley have experienced major hillside fires in recent years, also denounced the bass decision. She said she plans to use her authority as councillor to “set the record straight” while trying to overturn Crowley’s firing through a council vote.
Such a strategy required a two-thirds majority on a 15-member council.
Rodriguez accused Bass of eliminating Crowley to deflect criticism that he was in Ghana when the fire exploded, destroying nearly 7,000 homes and other structures, killing at least 12.
Crowley is expelled as Chief, but she continues to serve at the fire station. The mayor’s office did not respond immediately when asked to clarify the current role of the former mayor.
LAFD veteran Ronnieva will serve as interim chief. According to the mayor’s office, he retired in the department as head of the emergency business 41 years later.
Please see the entire article for more information on the situation.
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Column 1
Column 1 is the Times’ House for Stories and Long-Term Journalism. This is the great work of the week:
(For the time of Michael Owen Baker)
When Denisa Hanna opened the text and saw the image of the flames and smoke from the Palisade fire moving forward from the Highlands, she knew she had to cancel the rehearsal. She was safe in her middle city in her home, but the photos came from the secretary of the Parisa des Lutheran Church, where she had been evacuated. The road was blocked and the wind was gushing. “Look safe and say prayers for our friends near this horrific disaster,” Hannah, president of the Palisades Symphony Orchestra, wrote in an email to its members.
More wonderful reading
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For your weekend
(Illustrated by Lindsay made this; Photo by TBD)
Going out
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LA Affairs
Be enveloped in appetizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.
(Pablo Lobato for the Times)
Her previous marriage and hostile words from her ex-husband left her broken. She felt unloved and feared that her husband would be right to leave her. A friend invites her to a strip club and she finds herself dressed in business casual, while the others are ready for the night of the party. But midnight, she began to enter the music and into the movement. She was having a good time, but at first she even flirts with dancing. One night she felt like her old self.
Have a great weekend from the Essential California team
Andrew J. Campa, reporter
Carlos Rozano, news editor
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