meeting.

The city’s first female and openly gay fire chief, Crowley had led the department for nearly three years before she was fired by Bass last month amid tensions over the city’s response to the Palisades fire.

She formally filed her appeal last week, triggering a City Council review process that required a supermajority — 10 out of 15 votes on the City Council — to reinstate her.

The council’s decision followed a heated debate and an almost two-hour public comment session, during which nearly 100 speakers addressed a standing-room-only audience. They included representatives of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City — Crowley’s most vocal supporters — and the L.A. City Stentorians, who backed Bass, and dozens of activists and residents who spoke on each side.

While ULFAC members and Crowley’s other supporters saw her firing as politically motivated and tied to her public criticism of budget cuts that allegedly weakened wildfire response, the L.A. City Stentorians representing the city’s Black firefighters and those who opposed her reinstatement, accused Crowley of sowing division and undermining the mayor’s authority.

Some council members criticized Crowley, arguing that she raised her concerns at the wrong time and in the wrong forum.

“The chief chose the wrong time and the wrong place to raise an issue,” said Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who represents the northeast San Fernando Valley. “Spending time talking to the press to tell her side of the story, which I think is important, versus at the command center during the fires, raises major concerns about what proper timing should be.”

As council members took turns speaking, murmurs rippled through the audience. Some nodded in agreement, while others leaned in to exchange hushed remarks. The tension in the room was punctuated by occasional bursts of applause or exasperated sighs.

The meeting marked the climax of a weekslong power struggle between Crowley and Bass. What began as a debate over the city’s wildfire response spiraled into a high-stakes political showdown, one that could shake firefighter morale, deepen divisions on the City Council and endanger the mayor’s political standing.

When Bass announced Crowley’s dismissal on Feb. 21, she cited two key reasons. She criticized Crowley’s handling of staffing during the crisis, saying that 1,000 firefighters could have been on duty the morning of Jan. 7 but “were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch.” And Bass pointed to Crowley’s refusal to comply with an order from the president of the city’s fire commission, that directed her to submit an after-action report to review what led up to Jan. 7.

In a 10-minute speech at the City Council hearing, Crowley defended her decisions during the fires and refuted Bass’ reasons for firing her, calling them “multiple false accusations.”

Crowley pushed back against the claim that she refused to conduct an after-action report. She argued that the LAFD lacked the resources to conduct a comprehensive review of the Palisades fire, given its scale and complexity. Instead, she said she recommended collaborating with the Fire Safety Research Institute, which is conducting an independent analysis of the fire at the governor’s request.

She also rejected the claim that she sent home 1,000 firefighters who could have been deployed to fight the Palisades fire or that she left 40 available fire engines unstaffed.

According to Crowley, the 40 engines were already staffed and answering 911 calls. As for the 1,000 firefighters, she said the LAFD lacked the necessary fire engines and apparatus to deploy them due to budget cuts and underinvestment in fleet maintenance. And Crowley refuted allegations that the LAFD failed to notify the mayor’s office about the incoming severe weather.

“It is never the wrong time to do the right thing and to speak the truth,” Crowley said, “and the truth is that the fire chief should not be prevented from, or punished for, speaking openly and honestly about the needs and capabilities of the LAFD or for doing their best to protect our firefighters and our communities.”

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who has supported Crowley’s reinstatement from the beginning, echoed Crowley’s defense during the hearing.

She argued that the council’s deliberations should be “grounded in fact,” suggesting that the after-action report Crowley was criticized for failing to deliver had not been funded.

“To suggest that Chief Crowley refused to participate in an after-action report, well, what after-action report?” Rodriguez said. “We’re just now having that conversation in budget (committee) today, with $150,000 recommended expenditure to conduct an independent study of the events.

“We’ve seen a lot of the disparaging of decisions, and decisions that were being made in those moments, or in the immediate aftermath for political cover,” she added. “But I think it’s really important for us to be grounded in fact while we talk about the disparagement of a nearly 30-year career in the fire service.”

The majority of council members were not willing to override the mayor’s decision. Councilmember John Lee said in an interview after the meeting, “As the chair of the Public Safety (Committee), it’s my job to ensure that the Fire Department has as many resources as possible to keep our community safe. Whichever side you believe or agree on, I think it’s really important, in order to move forward, we all need to be on the same page.”

Lee supported the need for an independent after-action report, noting that both he and Park have called for an external agency to conduct the review.

While acknowledging Crowley’s strong advocacy for firefighters, Councilmember Tim McOsker argued that a fire chief and mayor who cannot work together pose a risk to public safety.

“I will say that I’m going to put the goal of public safety and a functional city above what might be more politically expedient for me,” McOsker said. “Because sometimes we need to risk our jobs to do our jobs, and I think our role here is to make sure that we can move forward. And with a heavy heart, I’m going to support the power of the mayor in this matter.”

Crowley has publicly criticized the city for making budget cuts that she says weakened the LAFD’s ability to respond to wildfires.

Meanwhile, Bass has blamed Crowley and others for failing to inform her about the severity of recent windstorms before she traveled abroad, suggesting that better communication might have prevented some of the devastation.

Bass has faced criticism, including calls for her resignation, for traveling to Ghana just days before the fires as part of a U.S. delegation sent by then-President Joe Biden to attend the country’s presidential inauguration.