'It's been such an amazing journey': LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley looks back at first year on job

It has officially been one year since Kristin Crowley was sworn in as the 19th fire chief in Los Angeles Fire Department history, becoming the first female to hold the position. 

Since then — and busier than ever before — she looks back on her time on the job thus far fondly. 

"It's been such an amazing journey," she said during a one-on-one interview with KCAL News's Joy Benedict. "I honestly feel inspired."

The job hasn't come without its challenges though, with the community needing the fire department's services more than seemingly ever before. 

"The community needs are different," Crowley said, noting that the amount of daily callers has seen a remarkable increase. "Couple of years ago, 1,000 calls were a lot for us. We are running easily 1,500 calls."

Since 2020, she says that calls for service have seen a nearly 13-percent jump and crews are starting to feel the effects. 

"We want to bring balance to the organization, meaning those who want to work that overtime, it's there for them, but balance is important for work-life balance," she said. "So, the members that need to take time away, that need to refocus at home, that's gonna be there for them."

Crowley says that a generational shift in firefighters, an increase in retirements and an ever-growing city have her looking to hire more people as soon as possible. 

LAFD currently employs nearly 3,600 firefighters and support personnel. Crowley says 4,000 more would actually fit what she feels the department needs to fulfill their ideal allocation of resources. 

With more than 80-percent of service calls requiring medical treatment, she says that hiring firefighters isn't the quick solution to fill all of the department's needs. 

"We're looking at piloting emergency hired paramedics," Crowley said, hoping that by doing so she could fill the open positions and keep the department's response times low. 

Hiring more people would lessen the load on current crew member's shoulders, and hopefully lead to longer careers with LAFD. 

Crowley is also looking to make several pilot programs they've run over the last year a more permanent fixture. 

"What if we do create a more agile, response capability nurse practitioner units? Now we can send a fast response vehicle versus a 100-foot aerial ladder truck."

She's also hoping to work on improving their partnership with L.A. County when it comes to addressing mental health-related issues, with 50-percent of their calls relating to the city's homeless population. By doing so, she hopes that they'll be able to free the firefighters up to do what they do best — fight fires.

While she understands that all of these additional resources would cost money, Crowley hopes that the city continues to support her vision. 

"Our people are working hard and I'm certainly inspired by them," she said. "We're actually doing more with less."