Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been in the news lately, but for all the wrong reasons. A little over a year after the disastrous wildfires that wiped out entire neighborhoods, the questions about her leadership — or lack thereof — keep getting louder and louder.
On Tuesday, the former fire chief whom Bass fired after the catastrophe said enough with the talking: I’m suing you.
Former LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley took aim at Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and her handling of the Palisades fire on Tuesday, alleging labor code violations after she was ousted by the mayor last year in a bombshell new lawsuit.
“She sought to avoid accountability by shifting blame and lying — including falsely claiming that she was not aware of the nationally anticipated weather event, falsely claiming that the LAFD’s budget was not cut, and falsely claiming that LAFD’s resources would have supported an additional 1,000 firefighters to fight the blaze — claims contradicted by public records and Bass’ own prior statements,” the filing states.
Former LAFD Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has filed a lawsuit against the City of L.A. alleging Mayor Karen Bass fired her as part of a coverup to “divert scrutiny from Bass’ decisions and to avoid accountability” for the Palisades Fire. Crowly alleges Bass never told her she would… pic.twitter.com/4I9b7SlXYF
— 415FirePhoto (@415FirePhoto) February 24, 2026
Bass has faced numerous accusations as of late, including from the Los Angeles Times, which reported that she had pushed for changes to a key after-action report to make her look better. Also revealed by the outlet was an internal LAFD report that focused entirely on ways to manipulate media coverage of the mayor’s performance to protect her from “reputational harm.” (That bus has now officially left the station.)
A FAILURE OF LEADERSHIP: Caught: LAFD’s Secret Plan to Protect Karen Bass and Dept. From Fire Report Fallout
Bombshell New Report Alleges LA Mayor Bass Watered Down Post-Fire Analysis – GOP Senators Want Answers
Though Crowley’s claims may have merit, she has taken plenty of criticism of her own for being obsessed with diversity, equity, and inclusion and spending millions on a DEI bureau despite facing budget cuts. There’s no way to measure how much that distracted her from her ostensible mission — preventing and fighting fires — but it’s hard to see how it helped.
In any case, the former LAFD chief alleges that Bass desperately tried avoid blame, according to NBC Los Angeles:
According to the newly filed court papers, Cowley says after initially praising the fire department’s response, “Bass reversed course,” in order to find someone to blame after criticism of Bass’ absence from Los Angeles at the time of the fire, and her budget decision to cut the operating budget of the fire department.
[…]
The lawsuit claims Bass did not tell Crowley she was leaving the country.