Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES — Former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley is suing the city, claiming in a whistleblower lawsuit that Mayor Karen Bass “orchestrated a campaign of retaliation” to protect her own political future and paper over her failures during the most destructive fire in city history.
In the lawsuit, filed Monday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, Crowley and her attorneys allege Bass sought to shift blame for the way the city handled the catastrophic Palisades fire to Crowley amid mounting criticism of the mayor’s decision to attend a ceremony in Ghana on Jan. 7, the day the fire erupted. Bass, the suit alleges, left L.A. despite knowing of the potential severe winds and fire danger.
“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 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 lawsuit alleges. “These false statements were not mistakes but part of a deliberate strategy to divert scrutiny from Bass’ decisions and to avoid accountability.”
The Palisades fire took off the morning of Jan. 7 amid fierce Santa Ana winds, killing 12 people and destroying thousands of homes amounting to billions of dollars in damages. While authorities...
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