In a unanimous vote, the Los Angeles City Council extended the contract Tuesday for interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva to serve for an additional six months while city officials conduct a nationwide search for a permanent leader.
Mayor Karen Bass appointed Villanueva as the interim fire chief in February, days after she demoted former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley for alleged leadership failures related to the January wildfires.
Villanueva previously served with the Los Angeles Fire Department for 41 years, climbing through the ranks to chief deputy. He held special duty assignments such as captain at Drill Tower 89, battalion chief in the Community Liaison Office, and assistant chief of homeland security for the Port of Los Angeles.
He had retired several months ago as chief deputy of emergency operations before taking up the call from Mayor Bass to lead the department amid turmoil.
“… Know that for the LAFD, my main priority is to provide the best safety professionalism to the public that we serve,” Villanueva said.
Villanueva said he will work with each City Council member and make a stronger effort to meet with them while pushing for more resources for the department.
In August, Crowley filed a legal claim against the city and Mayor Bass for defamation, retaliation and negligence, alleging she was the victim of a pattern of “dishonesty, scapegoating and unlawful retaliation” stemming from her firing in the wake of the January wildfires.
The claim alleges that the 25-year career of a public servant was destroyed not because of any failure in Crowley’s duties, but because she told the truth.
David Michaelson, attorney for Bass, previously issued a statement saying, “We will not comment on an ongoing personnel claim.”
A claim is a possible forerunner of a lawsuit. According to the claim, Crowley did her job by telling city leadership and the public that Bass’ budget cuts and the city’s alleged decades of neglect had left the LAFD underfunded, understaffed and ill-equipped to handle the rising demands of a growing city, especially one at risk of dangerous wildfires.
When Crowley confirmed to the public that Bass cut the LAFD’s operating budget by $17.6 million, she was targeted and removed from her position, and the mayor and her office simultaneously launched a smear campaign built on falsehoods, including that Crowley failed to notify Bass of upcoming wind conditions, that Crowley sent home 1,000 firefighters and that Crowley refused to conduct an after-action report, the claim alleges.
“These were not simple mistakes,” Crowley’s attorneys allege. “These were falsehoods that were repeated publicly to deflect blame from the mayor’s absence (in Ghana) during a predicted emergency and the consequences of her own decisions.”
Crowley is represented by attorney Genie Harrison, who previously handled the case of Tennie Pierce, a Black firefighter at Fire Station 5 in Westchester who was unwittingly fed dog food in 2004 and later forced off the job after reporting the incident. His lawsuit against the city was eventually settled.