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.
