The Los Angeles Fire Department attempted to shield Mayor Karen Bass and other top brass from “reputational harm” caused by the city’s handling of the devastating Palisades Fire that burned 23,448 acres and killed 12 people, the Los Angeles Times reported Friday.
The department tried to shape news media coverage with a plan formulated ahead of the release of the high-profile After Action Fire Report on the Palisades Fire, including efforts to “minimize tough Q&A” by asking to hold closed-door briefings with the Fire Commission and City Council, according to The Times, which obtained a 13-page city document through a California Public Records Act request.
While undated, the document was last updated Oct. 7, 2025, a day just before the after-action report was made public, the newspaper reported.
Though the report was unsigned and labeled “for internal use only,” the document was produced on LAFD letterhead and included email addresses for fire officials, representatives of Bass’ office, as well as public relations consultants, who were hired to help the department with messaging regarding the fire, according to the report.
Neither a representative for Bass nor the fire department immediately responded to a request for comment.
Bass’ office previously denied a published story that she directed the watering-down of the after-action report that discussed alleged failings of the fire department during the fire.
She allegedly received an early draft for the report, and told then-interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva that the report could result in legal liabilities for those failures.
The Times reported that Bass held onto the original draft until after changes were made. It was unclear whether Villanueva or other LAFD officials, or anyone in the mayor’s office, made “line-by-line edits” at Bass’ specific instructions or if they imposed changes after receiving a general direction from the mayor.
Bass has vehemently denied the allegations.
“Absolutely false, 100%,” Bass said, referring to The Times story. “Just think about it for a minute. I’m the one who ordered the after-action report when the fire chief would not do it. I fired her. Why would I water down a report that essentially presented the information for why I fired her? That makes sense.”
Bass removed then-LAFD Chief Kristin Crowley from her position, citing her failure to pre-deploy firefighters and fire trucks ahead of the Palisades Fire, among other issues. Crowley in turn sued the city and Bass, alleging that she had been defamed and retaliated against. Crowley also alleged negligence on the part of the city and Bass.
According to the L.A. Times, citing two unnamed sources close to the mayor’s office, the report had been altered to reduce criticism of the fire department’s failure to pre-deploy engines and other resources to Pacific Palisades, as well as detailed other areas which lacked preparedness for the emergency.
In January, LAFD Chief Jaime Moore, who replaced Villanueva in November, acknowledged the after-action report was edited to reduce criticism of LAFD’s leadership.
Moore previously said he ordered a separate independent investigation into the Lachman Fire — a holdover fire from New Year’s Eve that later erupted into the Palisades Fire — to closely examine the department’s decisions and procedures and determine where improvements are needed.
He formally asked the Fire Safety Research Institute to include the Lachman Fire as part of its broader analysis of last January’s fires. The institute conducted an independent analysis of the L.A. fires, as ordered by state leaders.