Sources: Karen Bass Pressured LAFD to Water Down Wildfire Disaster After-Action Report
As the 2026 Mayor’s race looms, voters will soon have their own after‑action review at the ballot box.
Legal Insurrection readers may recall that in January, the Los Angeles Times published a detailed look at several draft after-action reports prepared to review the response of the city’s Fire Department to the destructive regional wildfires that struck Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and other locations.
The article noted that once a draft was finished, officials quietly deleted and revised sections to soften or obscure leadership failures in preparing for and fighting large-scale wildfires. The final version, overseen by interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva, reframed “failures” as “challenges,” deleted references to safety guideline violations, and replaced a dramatic cover photo with a neutral LAFD seal to improve the department’s image.
It took the team 7 drafts to make the final version more palatable to LA’s leadership.
Mayor Karen Bass has repeatedly denied that she was involved in any attempt to soften the report and downplay the incompetence of city officials across a wide array of departments and in her office. However, if an exclusive report using “two sources with knowledge of Bass’ office” is used, the Los Angeles Times reports that Bass played a key role in the final product.
These sources are willing to testify under oath.
The sources told The Times that two people close to Bass informed them of the mayor’s behind-the-scenes role in watering down the report. One source spoke to both of the people; the other spoke to one of them. The sources requested anonymity to speak frankly about the mayor’s private conversations with Villanueva and others.
One Bass confidant told one of the sources that “the mayor didn’t tell the truth when she said she had nothing to do with changing the report.” The source said the confidant advised Bass that altering the report “was a bad idea” because it would hurt her politically.
According to the source, the two confidants said Bass held on to the original draft until after the changes were made. The source added that both confidants said they are prepared to testify under oath to verify their accounts if the matter ends up in a legal proceeding.
…“All the changes [The Times] reported on were the ones Karen wanted,” the second source said, referring primarily to the newspaper’s determination that the report was altered to deflect attention from the LAFD’s failure to pre-deploy crews to Pacific Palisades before the fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,000 homes and other structures, amid forecasts of catastrophically high winds.
LA Times breaking news. Mayor Bass directed watering down of Palisades fire action report.
We’re not profiteers or conspiracy theorists. We’re fire victims of the city and state.
Karen Bass – lied and covered up.
Governor Newsom – lied and covered up.
LAFD – lied and covered… pic.twitter.com/ZbpJIHmMR6— Jeremy Padawer (@JeremyCom) February 4, 2026
Apparently, Bass was warned that modifying the report would be a bad look for her.
Bass was cautioned that the self-serving tweaks in with the report was a “bad idea” that could torpedo her political career, but still withheld the working draft until after changes were made, insiders told the Times.
The official report, released in October, cut a section from the initial version exposing the LAFD’s choice not to fully staff or pre-deploy all available crews despite forecasts of catastrophic winds because it didn’t align with city policy, the outlet reported.
It instead commended department brass for going “above and beyond” with a standard “pre-deployment matrix,” despite the fire leveling over 16,000 homes and structures, causing $150 billion in damages, and killing 12 people.
LA Mayor Karen Bass secretly altered Palisades fire analysis to downplay LA’s failures: report https://t.co/bOqyihPbiM pic.twitter.com/ChnoLcfXs0
— California Post (@californiapost) February 4, 2026
In the wake of the report, one LA County Supervisor is asking Governor Gavin Newsom to start another investigation.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who represents Pacific Palisades and Malibu, sent a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom on Jan. 28, calling on him and the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services to fully investigate the true cause of the Palisades Fire.
“The city’s diluted report has lost all credibility,” Horvath wrote on a social media.
Horvath wrote in her letter that questions about the indicated cause still exist and deserve answers.
“As Cal OES prepares its final `2025 Wildfires, Winds, and PSPS After Action Report’ (State AAR), you have a unique and critical opportunity to ensure accountability,” Horvath wrote in her letter. “I respectfully request that the state AAR include an investigation of the circumstances that led to the ignition of the Palisades Fire, including review of the federal government’s findings, and whether appropriately sufficient resources were deployed to fight these fires.”
John called for Mayor Karen Bass @mayorofla to resign from her position & also said there is no way she should be re-elected after the @latimes reported that Mayor Bass was the one who wanted the Palisades Fire after-action report altered! @KFIAM640 pic.twitter.com/d7Rd12OOiP
— The John Kobylt Show (@JohnKobyltRadio) February 5, 2026
As Los Angeles braces for another fire season and tallies the enormous human and financial costs of the 2025 Los Angeles wildfire disaster, voters will soon have their own after‑action review at the ballot box.
This year’s mayoral race offers a critical opportunity to choose new leadership, and Angelenos should insist that the next mayor is selected on genuine merit, proven competence, and transparency….not because a candidate neatly checks the right narrative boxes.
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Comments
One look at Bass and all you can conclude is that “the lights are on but nobody is home”.
Too bad they didn’t have that water for the fire.
“It took the team 7 drafts to make the final version more palatable to LA’s leadership.” Musn’t upset the Politburo.
There should be no legal barriers to holding office based upon gender, race or sexual orientation.
However, when gender, race and sexual orientation are heralded as qualifications by someone seeking office, that person’s performance in office is uniformly awful.
Karen Bass checks all the boxes except for the one marked “competent”.
Same goes for the Superior Court.
Competency is racist.
An election where the Useful Idiots™ will just march to the ballot box and re-elect the morons already in office or more likely will elect people worse than what they’ve got now. Guaranteed.
eot
Can’t help people who enjoy generating their own problems, then get shocked Pikachu faced when it blows up in a spectacular fashion.
shes missing a huge upside of being a leftist
you never have to lie!!
just say
we do it this way and f off if you dont like it b/c we give out so much of other peoples money we are endeared by the masses and can do as we please
Here’s your chance California: vote her out! LOL
“voters will soon have their own after‑action review at the ballot box.”
Yeah, right.
It’s a very strange phenomenon lately in our elections.
I remember when I was younger 40 years ago politicians were voted out quite regularly.
Now a days these people are harder than hell to get rid of.
I wonder why?
People must start paying for their mistakes. Understanding and “loving your neighbor” are fine concepts as long as you don’t apply these concepts to people who want to kill you, steal your $$$, damage your kids. Did Jesus ever say “provide everything for everyone everywhere?” No, He wanted to have people EARN and work for all.
“In the wake of the report, one LA County Supervisor is asking Governor Gavin Newsom to start another investigation”
So wait, wasn’t Newsome one of the guys who covered up the report?
If the Supervisor knows what’s good for him.