Fire Commissioner Genethia Hudley Hayes says the failures exposed by the Palisades fire are inseparable from a longer history of weakened oversight, internal resistance to accountability, and the erosion of reforms that were put in place after earlier abuse scandals inside the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Hudley Hayes, who previously served on the Fire Commission in the early 2000s, returned to the body in 2023 at the request of Mayor Karen Bass. She said she immediately saw signs that oversight structures had deteriorated. The commission office, which once had multiple staff members, now operates with a single employee, while the independent assessor responsible for audits works alone. “Many things have fallen apart since I’ve been on the fire commission,” she said.
She drew a direct line between those staffing gaps and the department’s history of abuse and retaliation. Two decades ago, the Fire Commission helped create an independent Professional Standards Division after lawsuits and investigations revealed a culture of harassment, hazing, and intimidation, particularly affecting women and firefighters of color. That system was deliberately designed to sit outside the chain of command so firefighters could report misconduct without fear. Hudley Hayes said that structure has since been dismantled, with Professional Standards now housed internally under fire department leadership.
Those concerns resurfaced when she learned that an internal report documenting sexual harassment and discrimination had been completed but never transmitted to the commission. When the report was finally brought forward, Hudley Hayes said then-Fire Chief Kristin Crowley failed to take meaningful action. “She did report back, but it said nothing,” Hudley Hayes said. “It didn’t have any solutions. It didn’t have any plan.”
That experience shaped her approach to the Palisades fire after action review. Rather than allowing the report to be quickly received and filed, she pressed for public discussion, detailed explanations, and accountability for the 42 recommendations included in the document. She said general assurances that some recommendations are already underway are insufficient without clarity on who is responsible, how progress will be measured, and whether funding is attached.
Hudley Hayes also addressed public claims that firefighters warned superiors about lingering heat after the New Year’s Day fire that investigators later concluded rekindled into the Palisades blaze. She said neither she, the fire chief, nor the mayor has seen the alleged text messages and that she will not speculate without reviewing the full communications. At the same time, she said the commission has asked the department to clearly explain its protocol for escalating concerns during mop-up operations and what happens when firefighters believe a fire has not been fully extinguished.
On funding, Hudley Hayes said public debate has focused too narrowly on recent budget adjustments rather than the department’s long-term fiscal condition. She emphasized that LAFD has been underfunded for more than a decade and that meaningful preparedness requires early, transparent budget discussions involving the commission and the public.
As the city enters a charter reform process, Hudley Hayes said the moment demands stronger oversight authority, dedicated staffing, and an independent budget for the Fire Commission. Without those tools, she said, the city risks repeating past mistakes. “If you’re going to tell the public that these people, who are largely volunteers, are going to oversee the second largest department in the city, and you don’t give them the tools, then you’re not really interested in oversight,” she said.