Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has once again found herself at the center of controversy as she desperately tried to explain her absence during the wildfires that ravaged her city.
As the deadly Palisades Fire began to burn, Bass had been on a trip to Ghana representing the Biden administration.
Standing firm that she was unaware of the fire risks when she left to go abroad, the mayor doubled down on Wednesday, assuring reporters once again that she came back home as soon as she could.
‘You do gain time coming back, but I will tell you that it’s not like there are hourly flights from Accra, Ghana, to the United States,’ Bass said.
Despite her remarks, the mayor received harsh backlash when she was pictured at a cocktail party at the US Embassy while wildfires began to destroy the Pacific Palisades.
Bass, who recently fired Chief Kristin Crowley over her response to the wildfires, previously said that no one informed her of the fire risks and has stood firm that if she had known, she wouldn’t have gone on the trip.
‘We need to look at everything about the preparation and all of that for the fires… I think when we evaluate that, we will find that although there were warnings – that I frankly wasn’t aware of.’
‘I think our preparation wasn’t what it typically is… That level of preparation really didn’t happen. If it had, I wouldn’t even have gone to San Diego, let alone leave the country,’ she said in an interview.
Mayor Karen Bass addressed reporters at a press conference on Wednesday to discuss rebuilding LA, but she was peppered with questions about firing LAFD chief
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley was fired after she was accused of failing to adequately staff the wildfire disaster
Homes burned to the ground after the Eaton Fire in Altadena
The mayor was absent for more than a day while her city combatted the wildfires. She eventually made it back via military transport.
Bass’ diversion of attention away from her Ghana trip and onto the lack of preparation from the LAFD was seemingly a jab at newly ousted Crowley.
The mayor was also asked to address the firing and her public feud with the former fire chief.
Even though the press conference was meant to address the rebuilding of the city, the controversy surrounding her relationship with Crowley took precedent.
Bass had previously defended her decision to fire Crowley, claiming that there were 40 unused firetrucks on the day the Palisades Fire erupted because 1,000 firefighters were sent home earlier in the day.
She doubled down on the claim during the press conference, telling reporters that union reps saying the firefighters were sent home due to a lack of firetrucks was ‘incorrect.’
‘There are fire trucks that need repair, the fire department needs mechanics, there is no question about that,’ she said.
‘But, 1,000 firefighters – many of those firefighters would have been able to be on the 40 fire trucks.’
LA Mayor Karen Bass was pictured mingling at a cocktail party at the US Embassy when the fires first broke out
The Pacific Palisades were engulfed in flames at the beginning of January while wildfires ravaged Los Angeles
Los Angeles residents evacuated their homes as firefighters attempted to put out the unprecedented wildfires
Los Angeles officials have been under scrutiny for the devastating wildfires that killed at least 28 people and demolished over 19,000 homes across the city.
Authorities have continued to play the blame game, with Bass accusing Crowley of failing to properly staff the disaster, while the United Firefighters of LA hit back that the unused firetrucks didn’t have working engines.
Bass cited the unused firetrucks as Crowley’s reason for dismissal, writing in a scathing statement, ‘Acting in the best interests of Los Angeles’ public safety, and for the operations of the Los Angeles Fire Department, I have removed Kristin Crowley as Fire Chief.’
‘We know that 1,000 firefighters that could have been on duty on the morning the fires broke out were instead sent home on Chief Crowley’s watch.
‘Furthermore, a necessary step to an investigation was the President of the Fire Commission telling Chief Crowley to do an after action report on the fires. The Chief refused. These require her removal.’
Crowley broke her silence the following day, saying it was an ‘absolute honor’ to represent the LAFD, but didn’t address Bass or the controversy directly.
Since her removal, firefighters have rallied around Crowley, with many claiming the move was to take the heat off Bass.
‘It’s really simple, Crowley was afraid of getting blamed so she threw Bass under the bus. Then Bass retaliated against her and threw Crowley under the bus,’ a veteran firefighter previously told the DailyMail.com.
President of the United Firefighters of Los Angeles City echoed a similar belief, claiming Crowley was, ‘a scapegoat to distract from the failure of the city and complete neglect of the fire department.’
Entire neighborhoods in the Pacific Palisades were completely destroyed following wildfires at the start of the year
‘We don’t have enough firefighters, not enough working rigs, broken down fire hydrants and a water supply that ran dry, but Chief Crowley is the one who gets terminated? It doesn’t make sense.’
The back and forth between Bass and Crowley began before the wildfires that ravaged the city when the former fire chief accused the city of slashing their budget.
Bass approved budget cuts of $17.6 million in December, prompting Crowley to write her a memo that warned the cuts would, ‘severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.’
Dailymail.com previously revealed a second memo written the day before the fires alleging further cuts to the tune of $49 million.
Crowley had been outspoken about how the cuts impacted the LAFD and frequently called out the mayor’s office publicly for underfunding the department.
Even though they both claimed to be working together amicably, the public rift was undeniable.
A drone photo captured the level of destruction after the Eaton Fire ruined the neighborhood of Altadena
Aircrafts were deployed to drop water on the wildfires in an effort to stop them
Tensions boiled over when Bass reportedly marched into Crowley’s office with two lawyers to give her the news, a source previously told Dailymail.com.
The source added that Bass told Crowley their relationship ‘wasn’t working out’ and the meeting only lasted a few minutes.
Another point of contention in the mishandling of the wildfire crisis was when acting mayor Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson delayed declaring a state of emergency until hours into the devastation.
‘It’s not like the emergency declaration was holding up the efforts to defeat the fires,’ Bass told reporters on Wednesday in defense of Harris-Dawson.
The public fallout between Crowley and Bass has impacted the mayor’s relationship with the firefighters union, as firefighters have seemingly rallied behind their own.
Bass’ allegiance will be further put to the test in the upcoming budget process, which includes funding to the LAFD.
