LA Still Prioritizes DEI Even In Aftermath Of Devastating Fires

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass fired Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley — one of the city’s “top fire lesbians” who pushed DEI across the department — Feb. 21, citing “public safety” and blaming her for the disastrous response to the massive Palisades and Eaton fires that consumed parts of the city last month. 

But the city’s priorities are still misplaced, according to documents a whistleblower provided to The Federalist. LAFD EMTs are required to take training to meet the requirements for renewing certification, some of which still advances radical gender ideology. So perhaps Bass’ lip service to “public safety” is less about accountability for the deadly fires, and more about escaping it.

The Training

A member of the LAFD provided screenshots from the internal training to The Federalist, but chose to remain unnamed to avoid retribution. The training — “EMS Patients With Special Challenges” — counts for one hour of credit toward the total certification renewal requirement that EMTs must meet every two years. It instructs EMTs on how to deal with “transgender patients.”

The training discusses “medical advances” in the “gender reassignment process,” including “puberty suppression,” “hormone therapy,” and “medically indicated surgery.” It also instructs EMTs on transgender “accommodations”: medics must “ask the patient what they prefer to be called,” “try to use inclusive terms, such as ‘they,’” and “try to avoid gender-specific pronouns” like he or she, or titles like sir or ma’am. 

The training also made EMTs guess which statement was true about treating transgenders: “transgender patients always behave erratically,” “transgender patients usually abuse alcohol or drugs,” “transgender patients are prone to the same physical conditions as any other patient,” or “you should ask your partner to care for the patient if you disagree with their lifestyle.”

Placing Identity Above Ability

The department’s top three officials, including Crowley, drew scrutiny during the wildfires as the “top fire lesbians.” They gained the nickname as LAFD’s commitment to DEI, rather than training or competence, came to light. Crowley advanced a “strategic plan” to subvert the LAFD with DEI, as The Federalist previously reported.

LAFD Deputy Chief Kristine Larson drew criticism for blaming victims if female firefighters cannot rescue them.

“‘You couldn’t carry my husband out of a fire.’ Which my response is, ‘He got himself in the wrong place if I have to carry him out of a fire,’” Larson said. Larson heads the department’s Equity and Human Resources Bureau, according to the department’s website. She has a DEI certification and was promoted from assistant chief to deputy chief in August, per LinkedIn.

Another one of the “top fire lesbians” — Assistant Chief Kristina Kepner — was accused of violently assaulting her ex-girlfriend, according to The Daily Mail. The victim — who obtained a domestic violence restraining order against Kepner in 2021 — claims Crowley covered up the assault and promoted Kepner anyway. 

In December 2020, then-Fire Chief Ralph Terrazas issued an update on the “LAFD Gender Equity Plan.” It featured graphs comparing women firefighters to the overall number of personnel, and breaking them down by race. The department pledged to “recruit a workforce reflective of the city’s population” by expanding “outreach to underrepresented groups.”

Crowley gave an update on the plan in 2022, again analyzing the number of female firefighters and their racial makeup. She said the LAFD had a “target of obtaining 5% women.” “The LAFD is committed to increasing the number of women in leadership positions…,” Crowley said.

But the issue goes far beyond Crowley, Kepner, Larson, or even the LAFD. Los Angeles advances “citywide DEI initiatives” to create “a culture that appreciates, welcomes, and embraces a diverse workforce,” according to its website. Meanwhile, the city’s Workplace Equity Policy labels “Gender, Gender Expression and/or Gender Identity” as “Protected Categories” and gives an overly-broad definition of harassment. Then-Mayor Eric Garcetti enacted the policy in 2022 to advance “equity” and combat “all types of harassment and discrimination.”

In the wake of Black Lives Matter in 2020, Garcetti signed the “Racial Equity in City Government” executive directive — leveraging critical race theory to transform the city’s institutions with things like “implicit bias” training, “outreach to certain underrepresented groups,” and a “Racial Equity Task Force.”

President Donald Trump recently directed federal agencies to double down on enforcing the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which bans “discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin” — even in the form of “illegal DEI and DEIA policies.”

But as The Federalist previously reported, Los Angeles has continued pushing radical gender ideology on all its city employees in violation of Trump’s executive order protecting women’s privacy at work. Specifically, the city requires all employees to take training saying men who think they are women must be allowed in women’s restrooms or locker rooms. It also indoctrinated employees on terms like “genderqueer,” “two spirit,” and “transpawn.”

Neglecting Emergency Response

Bass, a former congresswoman, cannot save face by blaming the city’s calamitous fire response on Crowley alone. On a much deeper and wider level, the city’s emphasis on DEI instead of competence has led it to struggle to provide basic services like emergency response. 

Bass cut $17.5 million from the LAFD budget just months before the fires broke out, and just weeks prior, she said in a memo the LAFD might need to cope with nearly $49 million in additional cuts, which would close 16 fire stations. The city’s negligent dealing with resources seeps into vital functions like emergency response. 

When the fires first broke out, more than 1,000 additional firefighters were available for deployment, according to a release from Bass’ office — and instead, they were “sent home.” But, as United Firefighters of Los Angeles City (UFLAC) President Freddy Escobar told KTLA, the city had “hundreds of ambulances, trucks, and engines at our maintenance yard that were cut by the mayor’s budget that need to be repaired.” 

“How can our members fill those spots if we don’t have the apparatus to put them, or the equipment to put them on?” Escobar asked. 

UFLAC’s executive board said in an emailed statement that LAFD still has “nearly 100 broken down fire engines, trucks, and ambulances in the maintenance yard because of civilian mechanic job cuts.” The union said Crowley is “being made a scapegoat from a devastating fire” without a “full investigation.” 

“The reality is our fire department has been understaffed and under resourced for years — including during Mayor Bass’ time in office,” the statement reads. “This is a city that has neglected its fire department and can’t even pay our firefighters correctly…”

Los Angeles has been fumbling the payroll of city employees, including firefighters, for months, as The Federalist previously reported. 

Meanwhile, LAFD ambulances were stretched dangerously thin during the recent wildfires, leaving much of the city out of reach, as The Federalist reported at the time. Meanwhile, the city left its EMTs working from ambulances with expired medication like nitroglycerin spray, epinephrine, and Midazolam.

“Our firefighters did their job during the Palisades Fire against enormous obstacles. Not enough firefighters, not enough working rigs, broken down fire hydrants and a water supply that ran dry,” reads the statement from UFLAC. “All of this occurred, yet the fire chief is being singled out and has been made the scapegoat.”

Even though Crowley is gone, Bass and other city officials must still answer for their role in hindering response to the fires which left many of the city’s most prominent neighborhoods in ruins.

Logan Washburn is a staff writer covering election integrity. He is a spring 2025 fellow of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo’s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.