Internal emails reveal that officials alerted Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass about forthcoming critical fire conditions before she departed for Africa, contradicting her statements of unawareness.
According to the New York Post, An investigation shows that City Hall was informed about potential fire dangers days before the disaster, yet the mayor proceeded with international travel.
On January 3, just a day before Mayor Bass flew to Africa for the Ghanaian presidential inauguration, the Los Angeles Emergency Management Department (EMD) sent crucial emails. These emails included predictions of "damaging winds and elevated fire conditions" set to unfold the following week.
Officials addressed the communications to over 100 city officials and included an attachment from the National Weather Service highlighting "critical fire conditions." This alert showcased a giant red flame graphic and warned of wind speeds reaching up to 80 mph on January 7, the day the Palisades Fire later ignited.
Despite these serious warnings, the information did not reach Mayor Bass personally. She was at a U.S. Embassy event in Ghana when the Palisades Fire devastated large swathes of northwestern Los Angeles, including a block in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood.
Following the fire, which resulted in the loss of thousands of homes and 12 lives, Mayor Bass dismissed Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley. The mayor accused Crowley of not grasping the severity of the situation, claiming that had the fire department informed her of the threat, she would not have left Los Angeles.
Deputy Mayor Zach Seidl, aware of the EMD's emails, later admitted to not informing Bass before she left. He attributed his oversight to the EMD’s description of the coordination meeting as "tentative," which he interpreted as signaling non-severe conditions.
The EMD stated that "tentative" specifically referred to the scheduling of the meeting, not the severity of the fire threat. This misunderstanding within the mayor’s team contributed to their ill-preparedness for the ensuing crisis.
When questioned by the LA Times, Seidl attempted to shift responsibility to Chief Crowley, suggesting that in previous emergencies, direct communication from the Fire Chief to the Mayor's office highlighted imminent severe conditions. He noted that such communication did not occur this time.
This shifting of blame indicates internal disputes over the chain of communication in emergencies. The prevailing question remains why, with multiple officials aware, the warning was not effectively communicated to the mayor.
As the city assesses the wreckage left by the Palisades Fire, the narrative of missed warnings and unheeded alarms paints a troubling picture of the administration's readiness for natural disasters.
Investigations continue to dissect the city's response to the warnings, scrutinizing the decisions that escalated an already perilous situation into a calamity that affected thousands of Los Angeles residents.
The dispute over who was ultimately responsible for the lack of preparedness highlights significant issues in the management and operational protocols within Mayor Bass' administration as Los Angeles seeks paths forward from this catastrophic oversight.
