Los Angeles Democrat Mayor Karen Bass secretly pushed to soften official findings about the city’s response to the deadly Palisades Fire, according to a new report.
The Los Angeles Times reported Wednesday that Bass reviewed an early draft of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s after-action report and wanted key conclusions detailing departmental failures scrubbed or watered down.
According to the report, Bass warned then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that the unedited findings could expose the city to legal liability.
Sources told the Times that Bass was cautioned the changes were a “bad idea” that could damage her political future. Nevertheless, the mayor allegedly withheld the draft report from public release until revisions were made.
When the final report was released in October, it omitted a critical section from the original draft that faulted the LAFD for failing to fully staff and pre-deploy all available crews despite forecasts of catastrophic winds.
The original finding reportedly concluded that the decision not to deploy additional resources was driven by city policy — a section that did not make it into the final version.
Instead, the official report praised department leadership for going “above and beyond” with a standard “pre-deployment matrix,” even though the January 2025 fire killed 12 people, destroyed thousands of homes and structures, and caused an estimated $150 billion in damage.
Current LA Fire Chief Jaime Moore acknowledged the altered drafts during a Jan. 7 briefing, confirming changes were made to reduce criticism of leadership.
“As many of you are aware, it is now clear that multiple drafts were edited to soften language and reduce explicit criticism of the department leadership in that final report,” Moore said without saying who authorized the edits.
Bass has publicly denied any role in altering the report, but sources quoted by the Times dispute that claim.
“The mayor didn’t tell the truth when she said she had nothing to do with changing the report,” sources told the outlet.
Bass’ office rebutted the allegations.
“This is muckraking journalism at its lowest form. It is dangerous and irresponsible for Los Angeles Times reporters to rely on third-hand unsourced information to make unsubstantiated character attacks to advance a narrative that is false,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.
Bass told KNX News later Wednesday the report was “absolutely false, 100%.”
“Just think about it for a minute,” Bass said, according to the Los Angeles Daily News. “I’m the one who ordered the after-action report when the fire chief would not do it. I fired her.
"Why would I water down a report that essentially presented the information for why I fired her? That makes no sense.”
The controversy adds to mounting criticism of Bass’ leadership during the Palisades Fire, including confusion over evacuations, her absence from the country when the blaze erupted, and nearly $18 million in fire department budget cuts made before the disaster.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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