Embattled Fire Chief Manning to Resign : Safety: He cites ‘allegations and innuendoes’ about his role in the rental of a historic station and discrimination on the 3,100-member force.

Los Angles City Fire Chief Donald O. Manning, in a startling letter to firefighters, announced his resignation Tuesday because of “allegations and innuendoes” regarding his role as head of a controversial nonprofit corporation and discrimination on the 3,100-member force.

In a letter distributed late Tuesday afternoon to the city’s 104 firehouses, Manning said his retirement will be effective Sunday.

“The department and I have been subjected to many false allegations and innuendoes that I have been unable to redress despite my best efforts and the assistance of others,” Manning wrote in an emotional five-paragraph statement.

The chief also cited proposed budget cuts as a reason for his surprise departure.

“The LAFD was not broken,” he said. “So why destroy it?”

Manning, 62, who has held the department’s top post for the last 12 years, was on vacation Tuesday and unavailable for comment. The department’s media relations unit did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

In recent weeks, Manning has come under increasing scrutiny. He is being investigated by the City Council’s Personnel Committee and the city controller’s office.

The Personnel Committee has been conducting closed-door hearings to determine, among other things, Manning’s role in a sexual harassment investigation. The internal Fire Department probe found that a captain’s allegations that women were targeted at the training academy were unfounded, even though several firefighters corroborated the captain’s statements.

The controller is investigating a nonprofit corporation headed by the chief that has banked nearly $210,000 for renting out a historic city-owned firehouse to a tenant running an unlicensed business and to Hollywood producers for dozens of movies and commercials. The corporation, called Olde 23’s, had been operating for nearly decade without the knowledge of city officials until its activities were reported last week in The Times.

And on Tuesday, the City Council approved a motion asking the city attorney’s office and the city administrative officer for a report on the propriety of the corporation’s activities.

The Fire Commission is scheduled to meet in executive session today to discuss the selection of an interim chief. Commission Vice President David Fleming said Tuesday that he and President Elizabeth Lowe had formed a hiring subcommittee.

According to sources, the mayor’s office has expressed interest in three top fire officials as candidates for interim chief: Battalion Chief Bill Bamattre and Assistant Chiefs John Callahan and Tom Curry.

Manning first came under fire in November after the release of a stinging city audit. Among other things, the Personnel Department study found that women and minorities had been frozen out of top posts and in some cases forced off the department.

Manning initially dismissed the report as a “hatchet job” but later acknowledged that the department had to improve its hiring and promotion efforts.

In Tuesday’s letter, Manning also cited Mayor Richard Riordan’s proposed $8 million in budget cuts for the department as a reason for his sudden departure. The mayor has proposed eliminating one of the department’s most sacred positions: personal aides to battalion chiefs and deputy chiefs. There are 57 people in that position.

“I believe the removal of the staff assistants is a clear abandonment of firefighter safety,” Manning said. “I cannot in good conscience participate in the dismantling of the finest fire department in the nation.”

At City Hall, reaction to Manning’s announcement ranged from praise for the chief to criticism that he should have left a long time ago.

“Chief Donald Manning has been a loyal employee of the Los Angeles Fire Department for 40 years,” Riordan said in a prepared statement. “During the last 12 years, he has led our city’s firefighters during times of emergency and destruction, all the while working to protect Angelenos and maintaining the safety of the firefighting force.”

Fire Commission President Lowe declined to answer questions, saying only that the chief has had a distinguished career. “I commend Chief Manning for his leadership and for his four decades of service,” Lowe said.

Commissioner Larry Gonzalez lauded the chief but said his departure offers a great opportunity. “The city has changed,” he said, “and the department needs to change as well.”

Councilman Richard Alatorre, while praising the chief for his accomplishments, was far more harsh in his overall assessment: “I’m glad that he did it because he wasn’t going to last anyway. I think he should have left before.”

“Given the bigger and bigger cloud over the chief’s head and his inability to effectively resolve an increasing number of problems, his decision was probably best for all parties concerned,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas.

Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg said she was puzzled that the chief would cite the proposed budget as a reason for leaving even before the council has made its decision on how much the Fire Department will get. “I would feel let down if I was on the department,” she said.

Indeed, some firefighters interviewed Tuesday said they did feel let down.

“I’m disappointed. I wish he would have stayed and fought,” said firefighter Mark Dunn, who described Manning as a “man’s man” who insisted on excellence from his troops. “I respect him greatly.”

Firefighter Rafael Garza said he thought Manning’s departure could help the department.

“Manning’s built up a lot of enemies,” Garza said. “Maybe if we can get someone (as chief) who hasn’t alienated the Fire Commission and the mayor as much as he has, we can work out some kind of compromise.”

In many ways, Manning was confronted with a no-win situation. Not only did he face increased scrutiny by city officials, but he was sharply criticized by members of his own department who thought he had lowered hiring standards to bring in women and minorities.

An opinion poll conducted last year by the 3,000-member firefighters union found that the membership had “an overwhelming lack of confidence” in Manning because of the department’s affirmative action policies.

Manning’s appointment to the department’s top post on Jan. 22, 1983, began in controversy. His selection marked the first time in department history that the Fire Commission had not picked a new chief unanimously. Manning trailed two other candidates in the testing for chief but was chosen on a 4-1 vote.

Manning was appointed, in part, because he was the only candidate who had a plan for minority hiring.

“Donald Manning has done more for minority hiring than any other chief in the Fire Department’s history,” former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley told The Times in December. “He was the only one who had an affirmative action plan.”

Although rumors that Manning would retire had circulated in the department for months, he gave no public indication he would step down until Tuesday.

Less than three weeks ago, at a meeting with his assistant chiefs, Manning said he had no intention of leaving until he “restored the good reputation” of the department, according to sources familiar with the gathering.

Times staff writer Stephanie Simon contributed to this report.