Pay raise approved for then-LAFD Chief Crowley before Palisades Fire and dismissal – NBC Los Angeles

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass approved a pay raise for fired LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley before the deadly Palisades Fire and her dismissal more than a month after the third-most destructive fire on record in California started on the Los Angeles County coast.

In a letter to the city controller dated Dec. 27, Bass approved a merit pay increase in compensation for the 25-year department veteran of 2.5 percent, effective Jan. 12. About two months later, Bass cited failures in leadership during the Palisades Fire, which broke out on the morning of Jan. 7 in a Santa Ana windstorm, when she announced Crowley’s dismissal as LAFD chief.

“That is accurate. We gave merit raises to the majority of our general managers,” Bass said Monday when asked about the pay increase at a news conference. “That raise was approved in December, and then we had the events in January.”

In the December letter to Controller Kenneth Mejia, Bass said she completed a written evaluation of the fire chief and approved the increase in compensation. The Controller’s office said it received 20 letters Dec. 27 from the mayor’s office notifying the Controller’s payroll department of approved merit pay increases for 20 employees, including Crowley, who were under the mayor’s supervision

Crowley remains with the department at a lower rank. Her new title is Assistant Chief of LAFD’s Operations Valley Bureau.

Bass lauded Crowley in the early hours of the fire, but said she later learned that an additional 1,000 firefighters could have been deployed on the day the Palisades Fire started. Bass also said Crowley refused to prepare a report on the fires.

City councilmembers who went against the majority of the council and voted in favor of reinstating former LAFD chief Kristin Crowley consider potential political ramifications of their choice. Alex Rozier reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, March 5, 2025.

Crowley, who publicly criticized department budget cuts, delivered an impassioned plea and addressed some of Bass’ comments March 3 in a failed appeal of her firing before the Los Angeles City Council.

Crowley addressed accusations about department staffing, repeating statements that the department was limited because of fire engines that were sidelined for maintenance. Crowley has said budget cuts impacted mechanics and mainly affected fire engines and ambulances that needed repair. 

Crowley said she recommended working in collaboration the Fire Safety Research Institute (FSRI) on a post-fire report and refuted the mayor’s claims that the chief did not notify her office about the windstorm and potentially life-threatening wildfire conditions.

Crowley needed 10 of the council’s 15 members to side with her for the appeal to move forward. The appeal failed in a 13-2 vote.

The mayor’s office issued a statement after the hearing.

“After testimony by the former Chief confirming she sent firefighters home on the morning of January 7th and that she would not move forward with an internal after action report, her appeal was rejected 13-2 by members of the City Council,” Zach Seidl, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, said after the council vote. “This is an issue of public safety and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department – the City of Los Angeles is moving forward.”