The Los Angeles Fire Department union boss blasted Mayor Karen Bass for firing department Chief Kristin Crowley, claiming the head firefighter was being used as a “scapegoat” for the city’s response to the deadly Palisades wildfire.
United Firefighters of Los Angeles City President Freddy Escobar was left outraged by Bass’ decision to axe Crowley.
“On behalf of the firefighters I represent, I am here to say we are outraged at the termination of fire Chief Crowley, period. In our opinion, Chief Crowley is being made a scapegoat, and she is being terminated for telling the truth,” Escobar said Friday, according to KCAL.
On Friday, Bass claimed thousands of firefighters weren’t scheduled to work when the Palisades Fire broke out in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood on Jan. 7 and blamed Crowley for failing to staff fire stations.
“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.
Escobar fired back at the 71-year-old mayor’s claim and said the department had plenty of personnel available but claimed they lacked proper resources.
“I was here in Los Angeles when they did the recall. We had more members willing to participate than we had seats to put those members in,” he added.
The union accused the city of cutting the department’s budget which would’ve been used for wildfire prevention including brush clearance, and civilian positions.
“In fact, we still have nearly 100 broken down fire engines, trucks, and ambulances in the maintenance yard because of civilian mechanic job cuts,” the union wrote on Facebook Friday night.
“This is a city that has neglected its fire department and can’t even pay our firefighters correctly for the work that we perform every single day.”
Bass slammed the former chief for not following through on an after-action report that was ordered by the LA Fire Commission president, saying Crowley refused to produce the report, a claim Escboar disputed.
“I am going to tell you right now, an after-action report is occurring while we speak,” he said. “It’s called FSRI, which stands for Fire Safety Research Institute.”
The FSRI is a private organization operated under UL Research Institutes.
The independent group was tasked by Gov. Gavin Newsom to conduct a broad-based analysis into the Palisades and Eaton fires that burned through 37,700 acres of land, destroying 16,255 buildings and killing 29 people.
The report will be broken into two parts – fact-finding and analysis with the latter looking into local and state policies that may have led to the fires, FSRI said on Feb. 3.
Escobar and the union stood by Crowley saying her termination was “wrong.”
“Our firefighters did their job during the Palisades Fire against enormous obstacles. Not enough firefighters, not enough working rigs, broken down fire hydrants and a water supply that ran dry. All of this occurred, yet the fire chief is being singled out and has been made the scapegoat,” the union said.
Bass has been under scrutiny since the deadly fire erupted when she was in Africa for a delegation trip for the Inauguration of Ghanaian President John Mahama.
