LA mayor dismisses fire chief over response to destructive wildfires

Los Angeles Fire Department chief Kristin Crowley (Richard Vogel/AP)

Six weeks after devastating wildfires, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass has dismissed the city’s fire chief amid a public rift over preparations for the fires and finger-pointing between the chief and City Hall.

Ms Bass said in a statement she is removing chief Kristin Crowley immediately.

“Bringing new leadership to the Fire Department is what our city needs,” Ms Bass said in a statement.

“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,” Ms Bass disclosed.

She added that the chief refused a request to prepare an “after-action report” on the fires, which she called a necessary step in the investigation.

The Palisades Fire began during heavy winds on January 7, destroying or damaging nearly 8,000 homes, businesses and other structures and killing at least 12 people in the LA neighbourhood.

Another wind-whipped fire started the same day in suburban Altadena, a community to the east, killing at least 17 people and destroying or damaging more than 10,000 homes and other buildings.

Ms Bass has been facing criticism for being in Africa as part of a presidential delegation on the day the fires started, even though weather reports had warned of dangerous fire conditions in the days before she left.