To the editor: Mayor Karen Bass traveled to Ghana to attend the inauguration of that nation’s new president on Jan. 4, a day after the National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch for Los Angeles. She landed in Africa on Jan. 5., and later that day, the weather service issued a red-flag warning. (“Former L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley appeals her dismissal by Mayor Karen Bass,” Feb. 27)
Warnings escalated several times on Jan 6., becoming a “particularly dangerous situation” by the late afternoon in Los Angeles.
The inauguration ceremony in Ghana began on Jan. 7, around 2 a.m. Pacific time. A few hours later, around 10:30 a.m. in L.A., the Palisades Fire broke out.
Social media photos showed Bass posing for photographs at a reception hosted by the U.S. ambassador to Ghana at around noon L.A. time, an hour and a half after the fire began.
This is the same leader who criticized the fire chief for failing to act properly, a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. The chief’s firing seems like an attempt to focus the problem on her and away from the mayor’s failure to act in a more appropriate manner.
Barry S. Rubin, Beverly Hills
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To the editor: During the Palisades fire, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley told the media that the city had underfunded the LAFD, in effect laying the blame for the poor fire response at the feet of the mayor.
I believe Bass showed great restraint in not terminating Crowley then and there.
Later, a report in the L.A. Times made clear how the chief’s inaction before the Palisades fire might have allowed it to become so very destructive. I believe Bass was correct to terminate Crowley.
Mark Hollingsworth, Los Angeles
