Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass suffered a second blunder shortly after returning to her fire-ravaged city after a trip to Ghana.
In a staccato voice, the 71-year-old Democrat appeared bewildered by her own notes at a news conference Wednesday, saying: “Emergency information, resources and shelter are available. All this can be found at URL.’
The blunder came just an hour after Bass stood still and stared into space as he refused to answer an Irish reporter’s questions for two full minutes after being out of the country as historic bushfires raged through her city.
Angry Los Angelenos, including A-listers like Sarah Michelle Geller, have criticized LA officials, accusing them of failing to keep the city safe amid the historic wildfires.
“In the city of LA you want everyone to evacuate but you have complete gridlock and not a single traffic cop on the road to help,” Gellar posted on Instagram, referring to the traffic jam that occurred as people tried to flee their homes before the fires reached them.
Meanwhile, actress and producer Sara Foster wrote on X, “We pay the highest taxes in California. Our fire hydrants were empty. Our vegetation was overgrown and the undergrowth had not been cleared. Our reservoirs were emptied by our governor because tribal leaders wanted to save fish. Our fire department budget was cut by our mayor. But thank God drug addicts get their drug kits.
“(Mayor Bass, Governor Newsom) REIGN. Your far left policies have ruined our state. And also our party.’
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass made an unfortunate blunder while providing updates on the city’s historic wildfires
Celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michaels added: ‘The mayor is apparently in Ghana… The fire brigade budget has apparently been cut by 17 million. And someone decided not to refill some reservoirs – now some fire hydrants are dry. Leadership in California is beyond negligent. This is completely unacceptable.”
The problem with fire hydrants appears to be a particular sore point for the local population. Water officials said usual supply demand quadrupled for 15 straight hours, but some wondered if green policies were also to blame for the shortage.
Bass flew out to attend the West African country’s presidential inauguration on Tuesday after meteorologists warned a “recipe for fire” was brewing to hit LA.
The mayor was there to attend the inauguration of the new president and meet the country’s first-ever female vice president.
On her return, she was cornered at the airport by Sky News journalist David Blevins with an assistant, both of whom refused to answer his questions.
Bass immediately indicated that she would not answer his questions and turned away, staring eerily into space.
Blevins, who happened to see the mayor as he flew home to Ireland, then asked her a series of questions to which she did not respond.
“Fire chiefs say they are really pushed to their limits and have run out of water, what do you have to say about that? Don’t you have an answer to that?’
“Do you owe your citizens an apology for being absent while their houses burned?”
“Do you regret cutting millions of dollars from the fire department, Madam Mayor? Have you nothing to say today?’
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stood stone-faced and refused to answer a reporter’s question for two full minutes after being out of the country as deadly wildfires raged through her city
Bass tried to reduce the LA Fire Department’s budget by about $23 million in 2024, but settled for cuts of $17.6 million.
‘Elon Musk says you are completely incompetent, are you thinking about your position? Do you have nothing at all to say to the citizens affected by this disaster? No excuses for them?’
“Do you think you should have visited Ghana while this was happening at home?”
Blevins then follows Bass out of an airport hallway before demanding she make a statement to the residents of her town. She ignores him again.
Bass then walks out a door and onto the asphalt.
Bass finally returned home Wednesday to inspect the damage with fellow Democrat and California Governor Gavin Newsom
“To the thousands of families affected by this horrific fire, the City of Los Angeles is providing resources and shelter as this emergency continues. To the hundreds of brave firefighters and first responders who responded to this fire all day, we thank you. The city is working aggressively to address this emergency,” she said in a statement.
Bass finally returned home Wednesday to inspect the damage with fellow Democrat and California Governor Gavin Newsom
Bass flew out to attend the West African country’s presidential inauguration on Tuesday after meteorologists warned a “recipe for fire” was brewing to hit LA.
Furious Los Angelinos have criticized their mayor for traveling to Ghana while the city was on fire, despite having given ample warning of ‘critical’ weather conditions in the days before
Media outlet INKL News said on Wednesday morning that Bass was on his way back after the swearing-in of Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama the day before.
Bass has posted updates to her X account thanking LAPD firefighters for tackling the ongoing fire, while sharing information about emergency shelters.
California’s wildfires broke out Tuesday evening near a nature preserve in the inland foothills northeast of LA.
They spread so quickly that staff at a senior living center had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds in apocalyptic scenes down the street to a parking lot.
The residents – one as old as 102 – waited there in their bedding as the night sky glowed red with flames and embers fell around them until ambulances, buses and even construction vans arrived to take them to safety.
Another fire that started hours earlier swept through the city’s Pacific Palisades neighborhood, a hilly coastal area dotted with celebrity homes.
In the frantic rush to safety, roads became impassable as dozens of people abandoned their vehicles and fled on foot, some with suitcases.
The traffic jam on Palisades Drive prevented emergency vehicles from getting through and a bulldozer was called in to push the abandoned cars aside and create a path.
Hollywood’s biggest celebrities are picking up the pieces after discovering their affluent neighborhood was reduced to ash and rubble as California’s wildfires swept through the Pacific Palisades.
The death toll from the historic infernos has now reached five, as heroic firefighters continue to battle hellish conditions on the frontlines of at least five different fires.
The homes of Anthony Hopkins, John Goodman and Miles Teller are among those destroyed, while dozens of other stars now have to wait anxiously alongside their neighbors to hear if anything can be saved.
Apocalyptic fire ripped through the upscale enclave of Pacific Palisades on Tuesday, quickly spreading to surrounding suburbs as a storm carried embers and debris in all directions.
Residents fled and then waited with bated breath to find out more about their homes, as news began to trickle out that entire streets had been wiped off the map, firefighters were running out of water, and resources were being used to put the blaze on fire. to fight on multiple fronts.