Karen Bass left L.A. for Africa boondoggle as wind, fire warnings increased. She returned to a burning city

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-01-08/mayor-karen-bass-
wildfires-africa-trip

For the first 24 hours of Los Angeles’ wildfire disaster, Mayor Karen Bass
was a constant presence on social media, urging Angelenos to flee
evacuation zones and announcing her decision to declare an emergency.

But Bass herself was far from the city. As flames tore through Pacific
Palisades, she was on a diplomatic mission in Africa, communicating with
key city agencies from afar.

Bass left town on Saturday as part of a presidential delegation to Ghana,
just as the National Weather Service began ratcheting up its warnings
about the coming windstorm. On Tuesday, she attended the inauguration of
Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama, leaving City Council President
Marqueece Harris-Dawson as L.A.’s acting mayor when the Palisades fire
broke out.

As she returned to the U.S., Bass faced some brutal assessments of the
city’s handling of the fires. In one airport, she stood silently as a Sky
News reporter peppered her with questions about her decision to go to
Africa.

In a video of the confrontation, Bass mostly avoided eye contact as the
reporter pressed her on whether she needed to apologize to Angelenos for
being in Africa — and whether she regretted reducing the Fire Department
budget earlier this year.

“Madam Mayor, have you absolutely nothing to say to the citizens today who
are dealing with this disaster?” the reporter asked. Bass did not reply to
any of his questions.

As the Palisades fire exploded in size on Tuesday and new blazes broke out
in Sylmar and elsewhere, Harris-Dawson, not Bass, served as the city’s top
elected official at news conferences. And with Bass away from the cameras,
real estate developer Rick Caruso — her opponent in the 2022 mayoral
election — swept in to fill the information gap, blasting the city’s
handling of the disaster on multiple news outlets.

Caruso, whose daughter lost her home in the wildfires, voiced outrage over
the lack of water pressure that hampered firefighters in Pacific
Palisades. On Fox11, he criticized Bass over her absence, saying that
“we’ve got a mayor that’s out of the country, and we’ve got a city that’s
burning.”

“We have a mayor who seems to be more concerned about being at some party,
wherever the hell that is,” Caruso said in an interview with The Times.
“We have terrible leadership resulting in billions of dollars in damage
because she wasn’t here and didn’t know what she was doing.”

Bass, following her return, said she took the “fastest route back” to the
U.S., traveling one leg of the journey on a military plane. During that
trip, she had phone service that allowed her to stay in contact with
public safety personnel.

“I was able to be on the phone the entire time of the flight,” she said.

Asked about the low pressure afflicting city fire hydrants, officials with
the Department of Water and Power said earlier in the day that there had
been “a tremendous demand” on the water system, which had been pushed “to
the extreme.” The system received four times the typical demand for 15
hours straight, lowering the overall water pressure, DWP General Manager
Janisse Quiñones said at a Wednesday morning news conference.

During that same briefing, Crowley, the fire chief, told reporters that
Bass would be returning at noon. Bass’ deputy chief of staff, Celine
Cordero, said her boss had been “actively involved in decision making”
during her time overseas.

“I want to assure the community and the city [that] our mayor has been
actively engaged 100% of the time the entire last 24 hours throughout this
unfortunate, unfortunate event and crisis,” said Cordero, appearing before
a bank of news cameras.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger backed up those assertions,
saying she stayed in regular communication with Bass throughout the
emergency, texting with her until 10:30 p.m. Tuesday.

“Trust me, she’s very engaged. Very engaged,” said Barger, whose district
takes in the north end of the county.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna was also unconcerned about Bass’
absence, saying he was dealing directly with the police chief, the fire
chief and other officials. He said he was sure Bass tried to return as
quickly as possible.

“Even though I may not see the mayor, I feel her presence,” Luna said.

The National Weather Service began warning of potentially strong winds —
amid “extreme fire conditions” — on Thursday, two days before Bass left
for Ghana. Those warnings intensified over the subsequent days. By Monday,
officials were bracing for a potentially life-threatening and destructive
windstorm.

Eric Spiegelman, a Los Feliz resident who served for several years on the
city’s Board of Taxicab Commissioners, said Bass should have booked an
earlier flight home no later than Sunday, after the National Weather
Service issued a fire weather watch for L.A. and Ventura counties. That
bulletin warned of “strong and damaging winds” and “critical fire
conditions.”

“She should have been here on Tuesday, full stop,” Spiegelman said. “They
kept upgrading the danger level.”

The Palisades fire broke out about 10:30 a.m. on Tuesday. About five hours
later, Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl told The Times that the mayor was “en
route” from Ghana. Over the following hours, wildfires broke out or spread
into Altadena, Pasadena, Malibu and Sylmar. Bass took a military flight to
Washington, D.C., then traveled commercial from there, Seidl said.

This is not the first time an L.A. mayor was out of town during a major
crisis. Mayor James K. Hahn was in Washington, D.C., for several days in
2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. With planes grounded, then-City
Council President Alex Padilla — now a U.S. senator — took steps to
reassure the public about efforts to keep the city safe.

By mid-morning Wednesday, Bass and her team were still posting updates on
the wildfires, reporting that helicopters were once again dropping water
on the flames in Pacific Palisades. When President Biden received a
briefing on the fires in Santa Monica, Crowley and Police Chief Jim
McDonnell were there representing the city.

By 1 p.m., Bass was back in L.A., touring Pacific Palisades with Gov.
Gavin Newsom and Padilla, the U.S. senator.

“I have seen the front lines of the Palisades fire,” she said a few hours
later, “and it is staggering.”

Times staff writers Grace Toohey and Liam Dillon contributed to this
report.
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November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

The disease known as Kamala Harris has been effectively treated and
eradicated.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

[Siri Cruise]

For the first 24 hours of Los Angeles’ wildfire disaster, Mayor Karen Bass
was a constant presence on social media, urging Angelenos to flee
evacuation zones and announcing her decision to declare an emergency.
But Bass herself was far from the city. As flames tore through Pacific
Palisades, she was on a diplomatic mission in Africa, communicating with
key city agencies from afar.

How dare politicians not schedule fires into their vacations.