[caption id="attachment_26220" align="alignnone" width="640"] AP Photo/Richard Vogel[/caption]

By Amy Furr. Media: Breitbart

Calls for Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) Chief Kristin Crowley to retire are heating up after her handling of the fires that have devastated communities and killed numerous people. A group of current and former LAFD battalion chiefs and administrators are pushing Crowley to step down, sharing their criticisms in a five-page letter News Nation obtained and reported on Thursday. Their letter places blame on Crowley for the number of tragic fatalities and devastating loss of property. “Chief Crowley, you have lost the confidence of the Mayor and more importantly you have lost the confidence of many Chief Officers of the LAFD,” the letter’s final paragraph reads: When this incident is stabilized, the LAFD must be rebuilt. This includes from the top down. You may feel that you and your current command staff are up to the incredible responsibility and challenge; however you must know that a large number of Chief Officers do not believe you are up to the task and feel that your retirement from the position of Fire Chief would be the best for the citizens of Los Angeles, the members of the LAFD, yourself and your family. The letter also said: “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 group also claimed in the letter that Crowley knew about LAFD budget issues before she took office in 2022 but “went along” with budget cuts, per News Nation. Breitbart News reported January 8 that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) cut almost $20 million from the city’s budget for fire services for the current fiscal year. It is interesting to note that about 100 Los Angeles firefighting vehicles have reportedly been sitting in a repair lot for quite some time as the fires leave the area in ashes, per Breitbart News. Crowley recent denied that diversity initiatives have hurt the department’s ability to respond to emergencies, stating, “my number one priority is making sure that we can take care of the community that we took an oath to take care of, and with that is our ability to respond to emergencies,” Breitbart News reported on Saturday.