(audience cheering)
- Our next guest has shattered a big glass ceiling here
in Los Angeles.
A couple weeks ago,
on the first day of women's history month,
she was named the city's first female fire chief.
Say that five times fast.
And that's not the only barrier she broke through y'all.
She's also the department's first openly gay leader as well.
So let's welcome,
and congratulate soon-to-be Los Angeles fire chief,
Kristin Crowley.
(audience applauding)
- Oh, thank you.
- Yes. - Thank you.
- Say hi to Louisa.
- Hi Louisa. Nice to see you. Thank you.
- So this is such an accomplishment.
So congratulations on everything.
So I can only imagine what it took
to get to this point, right?
- Yeah, it's been quite an amazing journey.
Nearly 23 years on the department,
and just being really thoughtful,
I've promoted through the ranks for a real reason.
And that is to create the credibility behind my name.
So, promoted from firefighter, firefighter paramedic,
engineer, fire inspector, captain one, captain two,
battalion chief, deputy chief, assistant chief,
first female fire marshall, chief deputy,
and now the 19th fire chief in the history of the LAFD.
(audience applauding)
- You know what I love most about that,
is I think it's important when people do come up like that,
because then you really understand
what everybody's vocation is like around you.
You understand what everyone does. You have empathy.
For these positions that you've also been a part of,
I think that's important.
- Yeah. It's really important. Thank you.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
And it's purposeful, right?
Because even if you question or somebody questions you,
you can always point back to, I've done that for a reason.
It's exactly the empathy.
But understanding what your member's needs are,
and then you can better support them.
Especially being in the number one position.
It's really important that I understand what each
and every member has done,
and that way we can better serve the community.
- Absolutely. And a team just, it's a better team. Stronger.
So you've also been able to work alongside
with your wife for a lot of those years, right?
- Right. So my wife--
- Is that hard or easy?
- It's unique, right? Especially in the fire service.
- Okay, unique is a very politically correct way.
(audience clapping)
- So, side by side Holland in the picture there,
she did 28 years on our department.
- Oh, wow.
- So she just retired recently and help us with our kiddos.
And she was very well respected.
And it's interesting, she and I,
because we have the training things often happen to us
and it's odd but it's a blessing because we're trained.
And back in 2018, we actually,
I don't know if everybody remembers the Woolsey fires,
a big fire that kind of came through Ventura county
and Malibu.
Holland's mom lives up in Malibu and legally blind.
So we saw the fire coming.
We ended up getting our kiddos off to school.
We start headed towards Malibu. Everybody was evacuating.
We got up to the house and we started helping the,
I should say the neighbors, get their stuff ready
and now sudden, boom, the fire started coming over the hill.
So we told everybody to leave.
She and I looked at each other, said,
"Okay, let's go to work."
And we fought fire for about 16 hours with water hoses,
just buckets, dirt.
We ended up losing one house, but we saved nine others.
And it was just a blessing. - Wow.
- Thank you. Yeah.
It was good that we were there.
- It's really cool too, to have a partner in your life
that really understands where you're coming from.
To have those people kind of in your life
that know what you're going through.
If it's under a microscope
or if it's just whatever it is,
do you have those friends in your life?
- I do, yeah.
That was the benefit of going to drama school.
Getting my masters at Yale, my classmates are my rocks.
Whenever anything gets really hard,
I always go back to them, always.
I have such a great support system.
- That's awesome and so necessary.
And just, I think people realize more than now
the last two years, like isolation can do such a number
on our mental health.
So it's good to have those people and surround yourself
with people that love you and it's reciprocated.
So have you imagined what your first day as chief
will be like?
- I tell you-- - Will you bring a cape?
I want you to just arrive with a cape.
- This is my cape. - Be like, I earned this.
- My uniform is my Cape.
(audience clapping)
It's right around the corner.
And it's getting real and it feels so good.
I have a real just sense of calmness, which is preparedness.
But the first day's coming.
I'm gonna have my swearing in on the 25th of March.
My family's gonna be there.
My kids, our three beautiful daughters.
- Look at your beautiful family.
- Actually, yeah. There they are.
And that's, what's inspiring, right?
So my kiddos and hopefully young girls, boys, men
and women across the nation can see,
it's like, hey somebody like that could be
in this position of leadership.
So I'll be sworn in on the 25th
and the first official day being the 19th, like I said,
the fire chief in the history of our LAFD
or Los Angeles Fire Department will happen on the 27th.
So just, it's all about inspiring people.
And they do often say,
"If you can see it, you can be it."
And I'll say one added caveat to that,
especially with the young girls out there is,
if she can see her, she can be her.
And that's what's really inspiring.
- I love that.
(audience clapping)
That's nice.
Thank you so much, Chief Crowley
for everything that you do for us.
The sacrifice, not only from you
but from your partner as well and your family.
(audience applauding)