A veteran fire official has been tapped as the new chief of the Los Angeles Fire Department, NBC Los Angeles learned Friday.
Jaime E. Moore, whose recent assignment was leading the LAFD Valley Bureau as the commander of operations, was chosen to head the beleaguered fire department, sources told NBCLA.Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was expected to make the announcement sometime Friday.
Moore grew up in LA’s Westside in a bilingual household with his Mexican-born mother after being born in Louisiana.
Moore, a Santa Monica High School and UCLA graduate, joined the department in May 1995. He moved up the ranks after being promoted to captain, battalion chief then deputy chief over the years.
As the deputy chief of the Valley Bureau, Moore was in charge of five Battalions, 39 fire stations, over 980 sworn personnel and civilian staff, according to the LAFD website.
The LAFD has been under the leadership of Interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva after former Chief Kristin Crowley was ousted after publicly criticizing city leadership for cutting the LAFD’s budget in January.
Then in August, Crowley filed a legal claim against the city that accuses Mayor Karen Bass of an “orchestrated campaign of misinformation, defamation and retaliation” during and after the deadly January wildfire in Pacific Palisades.
Following the demotion, Crowley remained with the department at a lower rank, following public spat with the mayor as tensions rose over the response to the the Palisades Fire, the most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history. Bass was overseas when the fire started on the night of Jan. 7 in a ferocious Santa Ana windstorm that fanned flames and embers in communities on the Los Angeles County coast.