Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is blaming L.A. Fire Department (LAFD) Chief Kirsten Crowley — again — for they city’s failure to prepare adequately for the extreme winds that spread the Palisades Fire on January 7.
As Breitbart News has reported, Bass was overseas when the fire began, and the LAFD failed to pre-deploy engines and firefighters ahead of the anticipated extreme winds. That decision, apparently, was taken because Bass and the City Council cut the firefighting budget, leaving Crowley reluctant to pay for overtime for pre-deployed firefighters.
In her first formal interview since the fire, Bass sat down with Elex Michaelson of local FOX affiliate KTTV-11. They had the following exchange:
BASS: I felt absolutely terrible not being here for my city.
MICHAELSON: L.A. Mayor Karen Bass gives us her first sit-down TV interview since the Palisades Fire began, and opens up about traveling on a diplomatic mission to Ghana with dangerous winds in L.A.’s forecast.
BASS: When I say it was a mistake — absolutely. The idea that I was not present was very painful.
MICHAELSON: We know that there was warnings about the weather before you went, and you still went. What…
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