LAFD scrutinized for DEI push directly preceding widely panned response to fires

CV NEWS FEED // A chorus of critics slammed the Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD) for prioritizing controversial political causes such as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) just ahead of its widely panned response to a devastating series of wildfires currently ravaging the Los Angeles area.

During a Thursday morning appearance on FOX & Friends First, Los Angeles business owner Paul Scrivano blasted LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley for her “mismanagement” of the fires. 

“She’s a coward,” Scrivano said. “She has mismanaged this department with her DEI initiative to the point where I think the LAFD is in an irrecoverable spin and will never be brought back.”

He explained that Crowley, Democratic California Gov. Newsom, and Democratic Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath “lied when they said there was pre-deployment for this fire.” Scrivano indicated that he talked to responding firefighters and confirmed “there was no pre-deployment.”

“There was not enough staffing because we don’t have enough staffing at the LAFD,” he continued. “And there was not enough water because of problems at the DWP (Los Angeles Department of Water and Power) which relate to the same problems at the fire department which is this whole DEI initiative.”

Scrivano went on to demand Crowley’s resignation: “She’s incompetent, she’s unqualified … she’s a disgrace.”

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He pointed out that when the current chief was a rank-and-file firefighter, “she couldn’t even throw a ladder properly” but “was promoted through the ranks merely because she is an LGBT.”

Notably, Scrivano served as an honorary LAFD fire chief in 2022 – the same year Democratic then-Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti appointed Crowley to lead the department.

Scrivano outlined that pushing a far-left political agenda in the LAFD has been Crowley’s “priority since day one.”

“Day one after her appointment, she spent $670,000 to do a nationwide recruitment campaign to bring more LGBTQs into the command staff of the fire department,” Scrivano revealed. 

He noted that almost three years ago, shortly after being announced as the next LAFD chief, Crowley had appeared on the daytime talk show hosted by singer Kelly Clarkson “to brag about how she’s the first openly gay chief.” 

“I don’t care,” Scrivano emphasized. He cited the story of Mary, his 90-year-old friend who recently lost her longtime Los Angeles house to the fire. “Mary left with just the clothes on her back. She’s been in that house since 1966.”

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In the interview, Clarkson joked that Crowley should “arrive with a cape, be like ‘I earned this,’” during her first day as chief as LAFD chief.

After explaining that her “wife” and three children will attend her swearing-in, Crowley told the singer that she hopes young people “across the nation can see us, like hey somebody like that can be in this position of leadership.”

Crowley is not the only LAFD official whom critics have recently lambasted for allegedly prioritizing “woke” politics over properly aiding fire victims.

LAFD Assistant Chief Kristine Larson said in a video made by Los Angeles-based digital media company ATTN:, Inc.: “You want to see somebody that responds to your house, your emergency – whether it’s a medical call or a fire call – that looks like you.”

Larson, who like Crowley is openly “gay,” then responded to points her critics had raised, including: “You couldn’t carry my husband out of a fire.”

The assistant chief indicated that her response to that critique was that the husband “got himself in the wrong place if I have to carry him out of a fire.”

Popular conservative X account End Wokeness noted that Larson currently leads the LAFD’s recently created DEI Bureau – established during Crowley’s leadership – and makes a reported annual salary just shy of $400,000.

Independent journalist Kyle Becker responded to the video clip of Larson: “This is really the attitude among DEI hires? Yikes.”

The Daily Wire noted that Larson has a long history of pushing for the LAFD to move in a far-left direction as she “was a founding member of Equity on Fire (EOF) coalition” and “served as president of Los Angeles Women in the Fire Service.”

Larson also was at the forefront of a campaign to fire then-LAFD Chief Ralph Terrazas in 2021. According to Los Angeles’ FOX affiliate FOX 11, Larson at the time accused Terrazas, who is Latino, of “brushing off … incidents of alleged abuse, harassment, sexism and racism.”

Terrazas retired the following year and was subsequently replaced by Crowley.