L.A.’s DEI-focused fire chief, out-of-town mayor spark outrage amid wildfires

Published Jan 08, 2025  •  Last updated 32 minutes ago  •  2 minute read

Deputy Chief, LAFD Kristin Crowley attends The 2019 MAKERS Conference at Monarch Beach Resort on February 7, 2019 in Dana Point, California. Photo by Rachel Murray /Getty Images

As fires rage across the heavily populated Los Angeles area, the city’s fire chief is under fire.

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Kristin Crowley, the first woman and LGBTQ fire chief of the department, is being slammed for her commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives before massive fires broke out, devastating the area.

The Los Angeles Fire Department implemented an internal “racial equity plan” in 2021, and, in 2023, launched a bureau in preparation for a three-year strategic plan to increase diversity in the department.

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But fast-forward to the fires that began on Tuesday morning and raged into Wednesday and former Republican Los Angeles mayoral candidate Rick Caruso reported that some fire hydrants were running low on water as the department scrambled to mobilize firefighters, according to the L.A. Times.

Actor James Woods, who shared several videos of homes in his Pacific Palisades neighbourhood — including his own —  engulfed in flames wrote: “I couldn’t believe our lovely little home in the hills held on this long. It feels like losing a loved one.”

The Oscar nominee thanked firefighters and other local authorities working to try to contain the wildfires before taking aim at Crowley.

“Refilling the water reservoirs would have been a welcome priority, too, but I guess she had too much on her plate promoting diversity,” Woods wrote of Crowley on X, while sharing part of her bio.

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Meanwhile, as hundreds of homes burned to the ground and hundreds of thousands of Californians are without power as the fires continue to wreak havoc, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass was reportedly in Ghana to attend the inauguration of the Ghanan president.

Bass was slammed by many on social media for her lack of “priorities,” while others questioned if she was there on her on own dime or at the cost of taxpayers.

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“Hard to understand what official business any U.S. mayor would have in Ghana,” one person noted.

Bass was reportedly on her way back to Los Angeles on Wednesday after her trip — where she was part of a U.S. delegation to Accra for the inauguration of Ghana President John Mahama, plus a meeting with Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, who is making history as Ghana’s first female vice president, according to the White House.

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Investor Wes Nichols took to X to share his anger at what he saw after leaving “the hellscape, formerly known as Pacific Palisades where I’ve lived for 26 years.”

He seethed: “Our politicians have failed us. Unprepared, unimaginative, understaffed, now overwhelmed. Heads must roll for this disaster. I personally saw 100+ homes fully engulfed.”

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