At a KBLA Talk 1580 Town Hall and Ballot Forum, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass defended being in Ghana while 2025 wildfires hit the city, saying the response would have been unchanged if she were stateside.
Bass’s on‑stage defense
“When people go through grief — one of the stages of grief, and I know grief very well, is anger. People are mad,” Bass said, according to the source article. “You are mad and I understand that. And even though objectively, even if I was here, there really wouldn’t have been anything that was done different.”
She added: “The problem in our very big city is that it’s very difficult to leave town and not have something that happens. I’m not a firefighter, obviously, but it’s the role of mayor to be here.”
Prior regret on the record
Bass previously told Vice News in July 2025 that the trip was a mistake. Asked if she regretted going, she replied, “Hell yeah,” adding that being away during a crisis feels “horrible,” per Vice News, as quoted in the source article.
The trip and the forecasts
The source article states Bass traveled to West Africa as part of a U.S. delegation for a presidential inauguration despite weather reports warning of fire conditions and high winds.
What LA Times reporting says about the fire report
In late 2025, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Los Angeles Fire Department’s after‑action report on the fires was softened through multiple edits. As summarized by Breitbart News’ December coverage of the Times’ findings, deletions included language that a decision not to fully staff and pre‑deploy engines ahead of extreme winds “did not align” with LAFD policy; a passage noting some crews waited more than an hour for assignments; and an item alleging crews and leaders violated national safety guidelines. A section labeled “failures” was retitled “primary challenges,” according to the Times’ reporting cited by Breitbart.
The Times later reported, citing two anonymous sources with knowledge of Bass’s office, that after receiving an early draft, Bass told then‑interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva the report could expose the city to legal liabilities and wanted key findings “removed or softened” before publication. The sources told the Times they would testify under oath if litigated, the newspaper reported, per the source article.
Bass’s office denies
According to the Los Angeles Times reporting referenced in the source article, Bass has denied ordering any edits to the after‑action report, and her office denied that she demanded changes.
