Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was the ultimate authority on media strategy concerning the Palisades fire aftermath, according to an internal email reviewed by the Los Angeles Times, contradicting her previous denials about involvement in altering the fire’s after-action report.
The email, which surfaced Thursday February 13, reveals that as reporters flooded city officials with questions about the fire report and the Los Angeles Fire Department’s failure to extinguish an earlier blaze, Bass maintained final say over how the city would respond to media inquiries.
This revelation directly challenges Bass’s repeated denials about her role in modifying the after-action report on the catastrophic Palisades fire that killed 12 people and destroyed over 6,000 structures in January 2025. Bass has previously denied allegations published in The Times that she directed changes to downplay the city’s failures over concerns about legal liabilities.
According to sources cited by The Times, Bass allegedly told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that the report’s findings could expose the city to legal action, requesting that key criticisms about the LAFD’s actions be removed or softened before public release.
The controversy centers on significant alterations to the report, including changing language about pre-deployment decisions. An initial draft stated these decisions “did not align” with policy, but the final version claimed the number of companies pre-deployed “went above and beyond the standard LAFD pre-deployment matrix.”
Bass’s office has strongly denied these allegations, calling them “muckraking journalism” and “dangerous and irresponsible.” In a statement, her office said: “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.”
The controversy has sparked political fallout, with businessman Rick Caruso, who lost to Bass in the 2022 mayoral race, reconsidering a run against her in the upcoming June primary. Caruso called the report an “outrage” and accused Bass of covering up information about “the most significant disaster in Los Angeles history.”
Fire Chief Jaime Moore, who was appointed by Bass in November 2025, has acknowledged that the report was altered before his appointment but has stated he would not allow similar edits to future reports.
The Battalion Chief who authored the original report, Kenneth Cook, declined to endorse the final version, calling it “highly unprofessional and inconsistent with our established standards.”
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