LA Bravest demand Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley resign over wildfires

LA’s embattled fire chief is under pressure after a scathing letter from current and retired firefighters calling for her resignation.

LA’s embattled fire chief is under pressure to resign from her own firefighters amid the crisis.

As containment of the deadly wildfires continues, a group of current and retired firefighters wrote a scathing letter, demanding that Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley step aside immediately.

The Eaton fire is 73 per cent contained while the Palisades fire is 43 per cent suppressed as of Saturday, local time according to Cal Fire.

At least 27 people have died in the disaster and thousands of structures have been reduced to ashes.

A copy of the five-page letter from LA Bravest members slamming Crowley, who became LA’s first female fire chief in 2022, was obtained by NewsNation.

Kristin Crowley is under pressure from her own firefighters. Picture: Fox News

Homes burn on the Pacific Coast Highway during the Palisades fire in Malibu. Picture: AFP

“If you had done things right and prepared the LAFD for an incident of this magnitude, fatalities would have been reduced, and property would have been saved,” stated the letter, which added that the fire chief’s resignation “would be best for the citizens of Los Angeles.”

The letter also blasted Crowley for letting over 125 senior commanders retire under her watch.

“While no one is saying that this fire could have been stopped, there is no doubt among all of us that if you had done things right and prepared the LAFD for an incident of this magnitude, fatalities would have been reduced, and property would have been saved,” the letter said.

It came amid reports of a growing rift between Crowley and controversial LA Mayor Karen Bass, who has said an external investigation will be conducted into LA’s wildfire response.

TENNIS LEGEND’S TROPHIES STOLEN

US tennis great Pam Shriver has revealed that a horde of major trophies from her stellar career were stolen along with her car after she evacuated following the Los Angeles wildfires disaster, ESPN reported.

Shriver told the network that her car containing the silverware was discovered missing after it was parked outside a hotel in Marina del Rey.

Shriver, 62, said five US Open trophies, five French Open plates, five Wimbledon trophies and one Australian Open trophy were inside the stolen vehicle.

Pam Shriver (right) at the Australian Open in 2023. Picture: Michael Klein

“My son & I are at a police station reporting our car was stolen from the hotel parking lot we evacuated to when fires started,” Shriver said in a post on X. “This was the car that had most of my major trophies being stored until we could safely move back home.”

“I was just starting to take things out to pack them in the car, and I was like, ‘Where’s the car?’” she later told sports network ESPN.

Shriver had removed the trophies from her home in Brentwood last Friday after returning to Los Angeles from a holiday in Hawaii.

Pam Shriver with former doubles partner Martina Navratilova. The pair won a swag of Grand Slam doubles titles. Shriver said many were stolen when she fled the LA wildfires. Picture: Supplied

Shriver, a regular visitor to Australia, had initially planned to travel to Melbourne from Hawaii to cover the Australian Open but returned to Los Angeles following the wildfires.

MILDER WINDS BRING BRIEF RESPITE, TRUMP MAY VISIT

Lighter winds in the Los Angeles area this weekend brought momentary respite to the thousands of firefighters battling deadly wildfires, but meteorologists said stronger winds would add to “critical fire weather” in the coming days.

There is “virtually zero chance of rain” over the next week, which is also expected to see a return of the notoriously powerful Santa Ana winds, said meteorologist Daniel Swain.

As thousands of firefighters work around the clock to contain the fires that have claimed at least 27 lives, US President-elect Donald Trump said he hoped to visit soon, “probably at the end of the week.”

This aerial picture shows the remains of oceanfront homes destroyed in the Palisades fire along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Picture: AFP

Governor Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, had invited Mr Trump last week to visit after the Republican president-elect blasted Newsom and other Democratic officials for what he said was poor water management that contributed to the fires.

Several fires have blackened vast areas of bone-dry vegetation and devastated urban neighborhoods.

The big Eaton and Palisades fires, which remain active, have roared through some 40,000 acres. They are, respectively, 73 per cent and 43 per cent contained, according to the official CalFire website.

Downed power lines lie beside a fire-ravaged beachfront property along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. Picture: AFP

The frame of a building remains amid the rubble of burned-out homes in Malibu. Picture: AFP

A charred car in Altadena, California. Picture: Getty Images via AFP

With the firefighting effort making progress this weekend, thousands of evacuated residents were preparing to return home, while others still faced the stress of uncertainty.

Search and rescue teams aided by canine units have been scouring the smoldering ruins of neighborhoods for possible victims in Altadena, just north of Los Angeles, and Malibu, on the Pacific coast.

On Friday, mounted patrol units extended the search to some of the steeper and less accessible hillsides in the area.

An extensive logistical effort is underway to contain the fires, prevent further outbreaks, and restore the elements of normal life for the thousands of Californians affected.

Every day, hundreds of trucks rumble up the roads of Altadena, Malibu and the hillside suburb of Pacific Palisades, carrying workers who come to clear vegetation, restore electricity and communication lines, and inspect the area for gas or water leaks.

The causes of the fires remain under investigation, though experts have pointed to a fatal combination: two years of heavy rains which caused rapid growth of vegetation, followed by near-record drought which turned the vegetation into fuel for fires, compounded by near hurricane-force winds that tore through the area, making fire containment nearly impossible.

Originally published as LA Bravest demand Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley resign over wildfires