Embattled Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass secretly changed the city's official report on the Palisades Fire response in a bid to avoid criticism and minimize mistakes made by both the city and the fire department when the deadly blaze initially broke out, according to a bombshell new report.
Bass, after reviewing an early draft of the after-action report, pushed to have major findings about the Los Angeles Fire Department's failures removed or softened, according to sources close to her staff who spoke with the Los Angeles Times. The mayor also warned then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that leaving the conclusions untouched could leave the city exposed to major legal troubles.
Doing It Secretly
Despite being warned that making such self-protective changes was a "bad idea" that could seriously damage her political future, Bass allegedly held back the draft until revisions were made, insiders told the Times.
The final report, released in October, removed a section from the original draft that highlighted how the LAFD chose not to fully staff or pre-deploy all available crews, even as forecasts warned of catastrophic winds — a decision the draft said was driven by city policy, according to the outlet.
Instead, the published version praised department leadership for going "above and beyond" by following a standard "pre-deployment matrix," even though the fire ultimately destroyed more than 16,000 homes and buildings, caused an estimated $150 billion in damage, and claimed 12 lives.
Bass has repeatedly insisted she had no role in making the edits — but sources say that it is a lie.
"The mayor didn't tell the truth when she said she had nothing to do with changing the report," sources told the outlet.
Denial Continues
It's still unclear whether Villanueva or other LAPD officials made edits to the report at Bass's request. "Mayor Bass has been unequivocal for months — she reviewed an early draft of the report and only asked the LAFD to make sure it was accurate on issues like weather and budget," a spokesperson said.
"She and her staff made no changes to the drafts. The Mayor has been clear about her concerns regarding pre-deployment and the LAFD's response to the fire, which is why there is new leadership at LAFD and why she called for an independent review of the Lachman Fire mop-up.
"There is absolutely no reason why she would request those details be altered or erased when she herself has been critical of the response to the fire — full stop. She has said this for months."
Bass was already under fire for how the Palisades blaze was handled — from mixed messaging around evacuations to the fact that she was out of the country when the fast-moving inferno broke out.
She has also drawn sharp criticism for slashing nearly $18 million from the fire department's budget in the lead-up to the disaster.
