Mayor Karen Bass was on her way back to Los Angeles Wednesday morning as the city remained under siege from several major wildfires. When the first of the wildfires broke out Tuesday, the Los Angeles mayor was thousands of miles away.
Bass was in Accra this week as part of a delegation to celebrate the inauguration of Ghana President John Mahama. She would also meet with the country’s first female vice president, Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, The Hill reported.
During a press conference at 9 a.m. Wednesday, Bass’ Deputy Chief of Staff Celine Cordero said the mayor would be “on the ground shortly.”
“I want to assure the community and the city our mayor has been actively engaged 100% of the time the entire last 24 hours throughout this unfortunate event and crisis,” Cordero said.
Mayor Bass received criticism over the timing of her trip from prominent Republicans as well as Elon Musk and former mayoral candidate Rick Caruso.
In her absence, Bass’ official X account has been sharing frequent updates on evacuation orders and emergency shelters. The mayor also declared a local state of emergency.
“To the thousands of families impacted by this horrific fire — the City of Los Angeles is providing resources and shelter as this emergency continues. To the hundreds of brave firefighters and first responders who have been responding all day to this blaze — we thank you. The City is working aggressively to confront this emergency,” Bass said in a statement.
As of Wednesday morning, there were three major fires threatening homes and forcing evacuations around Los Angeles County: the Palisades Fire in western Los Angeles, the Eaton Fire near Altadena and the Hurst/Sylmar Fire near Santa Clarita. All three were at zero percent containment as of 10 a.m.
Mayor Karen Bass was on her way back to Los Angeles Wednesday morning as the city remained under threat of several major wildfires.
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