Overview

• Kristin Crowley, the first woman to lead the Los Angeles Fire Department, was dismissed by Mayor Karen Bass six weeks after the city's most destructive wildfires on record.
• The January wildfires resulted in 29 deaths, the destruction of over 10,000 homes, and overwhelmed firefighting efforts in the region.
• Mayor Bass accused Crowley of sending 1,000 firefighters home on the morning the fires began and refusing to submit a post-incident report requested by the fire commission.
• Critics, including the firefighters' union and some city council members, argue that Crowley's dismissal is a scapegoating effort to deflect attention from Bass's own absence during the fires and prior budget cuts affecting fire services.
• Meteorologists had reportedly issued warnings about heightened fire risks due to prolonged drought and strong winds before the fires broke out.