Former Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley has lodged a claim against the city, accusing Mayor Karen Bass of engaging in a “smear campaign” against her. 

Crowley “demands that Bass immediately cease and desist her defamatory and illegal public smear campaign of Crowley, retract her false statements about Crowley, and apologize for lying about Crowley,” the filing obtained by Fox News Digital declares.

She is seeking damages of greater than $25,000.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass prepares to leave the scene where city workers clear a large homeless encampment behind a public storage facility along the San Diego (405) Freeway at the end of Oxnard Street in Van Nuys on July 31, 2025. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

“The lies, deceit, exaggerations and misrepresentations need to be addressed with the only thing that can refute them – the true facts. As Firefighters, we run towards uncertainty and are willing to risk it all. Doing the right thing even when it is hard, is always the right decision and that is why I am continuing to fight for the resources our Firefighters need to keep us all safe,” she noted.