Mayor Karen Bass claims she 'wasn't aware' of wildfire warnings, blames Fire Chief amid criticism of Ghana trip while LA burned

In her first sit-down interview following the devastating wildfires that wreaked havoc across the Los Angeles area in January, LA Mayor Karen Bass said that she had not been aware of the dangerous fire conditions that were forecast for the city when she departed for a trip to Ghana, and that the LA Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley had not called to warn her.

Bass was asked about her "thought process" behind going to Ghana, noting that "we know that there was warnings about the weather before you went and you still went."

Bass replied that the four-day trip was set to be a "very, very short trip over a weekend and two business days." She continued, "We need to look at everything about the preparation and all of that for the fires, because I think when we evaluate that, we will find that although there were warnings that I frankly, wasn't aware of, although there were warnings, I think our preparation, it wasn't what it typically is, meaning that before there's a major weather event, for example, last week, when we knew we were going to get into the rains, you saw us come together and us talk about, you know, get your sandbags, bring the K-rails out."

"That type of preparation didn't happen. If that had, I will tell you, Elex, I wouldn't have even gone to San Diego, let alone leave the country."

The reporter noted that "I know we were talking about" the warnings on the news, and "a lot of people were talking about the problems, warning that this was going to be a huge deal."

Bass said that when she spoke with the fire chief, she was told "that we have warnings of Santa Ana winds a lot, but predicting this, and you saw we from the city, from the county, that level of preparation really didn't happen. So it didn't reach that level, to me to say something terrible could happen, and maybe you shouldn't have gone on the trip."

She said that two investigations are ongoing, an internal one conducted by the Fire Commission "Because that’s mandated by the city charter," which will fire an outside entity to "examine everything, the pre-deployment. You know, why were staffs—why were firefighters sent home? You know, all of that that should have taken place that didn’t."

"And then also, the governor has contracted with the Fire Safety Research Institute, which is a national institute that investigated what happened in the fires in Maui. So everything that happened, including that, needs to be examined. But I will tell you that I felt absolutely terrible not being here for my city and not being here for my family, who was impacted by the fires as well. And so when I say it was a mistake, absolutely, the idea that I was not present was very painful."