Frantic text messages reveal the communication between U.S.-based staffers and Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass who was in Ghana as wildfires began to tear through Southern California.
The mayor, who was heavily criticized at the time from both sides of the political spectrum, was blighted by technical problems while trying to communicate with her team on the other side of the world, the messages obtained by ABC7 Eyewitness News show.
The mayor was informed of the severity of the wildfires at 11:48 a.m. PT on January 7, while she was seven hours ahead in the African nation. The Palisades fire started on January 7 and tore through nearly 24,000 acres.
“On phone with Chief Crowley now. 2 significant fires in the city now. She will call you mayor,” a message from her deputy chief of staff Celine Cordero said.
After updating Bass that evacuations were taking place as winds hit 40mph, the mayor held a video call with staff late afternoon in Los Angeles and 11:23 p.m. in Ghana.
“I am listening don't know why you can't tell me,” she said, before correcting herself to “Hear me!”
Her team replied saying that they still couldn’t hear the mayor.
California Sen. Adam Schiff text Bass hours later offering support. “The fires are just awful. Please let me know whatever I can do to help,” Schiff messaged.
“Thanks so much I'm actually in the air headed home from Ghana...I know disaster aid will be needed...I land in the AM and would like to be in touch by late afternoon after I've had a chance to see what is happening,” Bass replied.
After the news outlet got hold of the messages, the mayor said she was “glad” they were in the public domain. “I am glad that they're now out there, and I hope that people can see exactly what I was doing,” Bass said at a press conference this week.
Bass initially told the outlet that her messages were set to auto-delete when they originally requested them in the days following the outbreak of the fires.
The outlet noted that public records, including texts from public officials, should be kept for at least two years, according to Los Angeles Administrative Code.
Bass, a former physician and congresswoman, was hit with heavy criticism after it emerged she was on a different continent when the fires broke out earlier this year.
She was selected by former President Joe Biden as one of his four-member presidential delegation to attend the inauguration of Ghana’s incoming president, John Dramani Mahama.
Elon Musk called her “utterly incompetent” and Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley told Fox 11 Los Angeles that the city had failed them after recent cuts to the department’s budget.
Despite being away on diplomatic duties, Bass was consistently posting updates on social media about fire, evacuation orders and emergency shelters.
