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The day before Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass departed for Ghana, her aide received an email from the city’s emergency management department warning them of “high confidence in the rise in wind and fire conditions that will occur next week.”
Nevertheless, the mayor went on a trip and attended the inauguration of the Ghanaian president and the US Embassy cocktail party on January 7th on the day the Palisades broke out.
Bass’ team did not notify her of an email on Friday, January 3rd. This advised the meeting next Monday to coordinate expected high wind preparations. In the days before Bass’ Flight, the National Weather Service also began warning the public on social media about the increased risk of wildfires.
Bass has accused former fire chief Christine Crowley of failing to warn her of a possible turbulent wind event over the past few weeks. She told Fox11 that San Diego had not traveled as long as she was informed of the dangers of the fire.
“It didn’t reach that level for me, it could be scary and maybe you shouldn’t have gone on a trip,” she said.
Bass fired Crowley on February 21, criticising the handling of the Palisades fire chief, destroying thousands of homes and killing 12 people. Crowley appealed her dismissal in a city council vote on the scheduled appeal Tuesday.
Communications obtained by the Times through a request for public records showed that the Emergency Management Department was advising mayors staff on weather outlook in emails and messages the day after the Jan. 3 emails and messages as forecasts became increasingly distressing.
Base aides on or above January 3rd received the January 3rd email. EMD officials also wrote that a “tentative calendar invitation” would follow for Monday’s meeting.
Deputy Mayor Zach Saidl, who receives emails and oversees bass communications, disregarded the importance of it and said he did not suggest an imminent catastrophe. At that point, he said the email was referring to the interim meeting.
“That’s not a disaster warning,” he said. “It sends a message to the opposite.”
EMD spokesman Joseph Reiser told the Times that “tentative” mentioned the exact date and time of Monday’s meeting, not whether it will take place or not.
The January 3rd email was sent by EMD mission officer Gillian de Vera to an internal group called EMD’s harmful weather. This includes more than 100 officials, including firefighters, police officers, and employees of the Department of Water and Power and LA Unified School District, according to a list provided by EMD officials.
Christopher Anyakwo is the executive officer of Bass for emergency business, with over 12 other Bass Aides on EMD’s harmful weather email list. The mayor and her chief of staff are not on the list provided by EMD.
The January 3rd email included 10-page attachments containing National Weather Services forecasts. It featured a large red flame icon and a graphics showing the header “Critical Fire Conditions.” According to the graphics, the gusts of wind reached 80 mph from January 7th, coupled with low humidity and extremely dry vegetation, creating a major fire risk in LA and Ventura County.
On January 3, a day before Mayor Karen Bass flew to Ghana, the city’s emergency management department sent a series of graphics from the National Weather Service, including one warning of the January 7 “dangerous fire conditions.”
(National Weather Service)
On January 3, Devera also emailed two base aides, Anyakuwo and Jacqueline Sandoval, the mayor’s policy directors for Emergency Management.
Seidl said in an email to The Times that none of the Bass staff members told her about the information in a January 3rd email. He refused to tell his aide whether to advise the bass on the worsening weather conditions while she was in Ghana.
Seidl also did not answer questions about whether the information in the January 3 email raised concerns at the mayor’s office or whether it was serious enough to guarantee cancellation of a trip to Ghana. Instead, he repeated the mayor’s claim that Crawley should contact her about the weather.
“Before other major weather emergency, the mayor, or at least the mayor’s chief of staff, has received a direct call from the fire chief and flagged the severity of the situation. This time, that call never came,” he said.
Crawley repeatedly rejected the mayor’s recent allegations, saying he is “very proud of his job,” played by city firefighters. Los Angeles Fire Department officials say they followed protocols before and after the fire.
City Councilman Monica Rodriguez, a supporter of Crowley, shows a January 3 email (a group email and an email to two Bass aides) that EMD officials are advised to Bass’ team about possible dangerous fires before she leaves the country.
“She keeps saying, ‘If I had known, I wouldn’t have left.’ But her staff knew,” Rodriguez said. “This confirms that her staff has been notified of any potential threats from EMD.
One of the city’s small sectors, EMD monitors weather warnings and distributes them to various agencies and elected officials. According to the agency, in 2024, EMD organized 20 adverse weather adjustment calls.
The mayor is responsible for overseeing EMD, according to the 2024 edition of the city’s official elected emergency response handbook. The revolving duties between staff members are accused of notifying “related stakeholders” (including the mayor’s team) of preparations made before threatening weather conditions, according to the 123-page unfavorable weather guidebook.
According to EMD guidelines, officers may collect information on weather forecasts such as heat waves, atmospheric rivers, and strong winds and may recommend that you initiate a bad weather adjustment conference call.
On the last day of December, the National Weather Service began conducting a 1pm briefing on fire risk, and began inviting fire departments and emergency response agencies from LA and Ventura counties.
The first “fire” took place on December 30th, with another “fire” taking place on January 2nd, said Susan Buchanan, a spokesman for the National Weather Service. After that, afternoon conference calls took place every day, followed by daily webinars such as media, she said.
On January 2nd, two days before the flight to Ghana, the Weather Service warned during firefighting about the possibility of a “offshore wind power event” in LA and Ventura County and a “long period of red flag conditions.”
The forecast included a 50% chance of a strong wind event starting on January 7th, with gusts of wind up to 80 miles.
The chances of strong, sustained wind power, starting on January 3rd and January 7th, increased to 60%, with gusts of wind could have exceeded 80 mph.
On Sunday, January 5th, the day after Base departed for Ghana, forecasters replaced the red flame icon with a purple icon, increasing the risk of fire to the highest level “extreme”.
That day, De Vela sent an email to EMD’s bad weather group to advise on forecasting extreme fire conditions.
At 11am on January 6th, National Weather Service again warned, saying on X, “Heads Up!!! Life-threatening, devastating, widespread wind storms are expected in the afternoon mornings for most of Ventura/LA Co..”
Three hours later, the De Vela meeting, which was referred to in the January 3rd email, took place.
According to Seidl, two people from the mayor’s office joined Zoom: Sandoval and reporter Gabby Maarse.
In a seven-page summary of the January 6 meeting, emergency management officials compared it to the intense storms that hit the area in December 2011.
“This wind storm event could create life-threatening gusts of wind power, ranging from 80 to 100 mph,” says a summary obtained through the Times’ public record request.
The document listed storm preparations planned by various urban agencies, including the Ministry of Water and Power and the Recreation Bureau. The fire department had planned “pre-deployment field resources” ahead of Santa Ana’s extreme winds.
The bus returned from Ghana shortly before noon on January 8th. This has been more than 24 hours since the Palisade exploded. She told reporters that she took the “fastest route” and was in touch with public safety officials when she traveled.
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