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 Palisades Fire, according to a report published 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 Los Angeles 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 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.
Yusef Robb, a senior adviser to Bass, called the published story “false.”
“It’s important to note that the Fire Department hired this consultant, not the Mayor’s Office, and consultants write all sorts of memos promising to save the world. LAFD incorporated this consultant into its team, so of course and appropriately the Mayor’s Office engaged with that team,” Robb said in a statement.
“Mayor Bass removed the previous fire chief over the chief’s refusal to do an after action report and for failure to pre-deploy. The notion that the mayor then took a U-turn and `watered down’ a report that justified her removal of the chief and her public criticisms of pre-deployment failures is just bonkers,” Robb continued.
An LAFD spokesperson said the department had no comment as “we have not yet identified the specific document referenced in the LA Times report.”
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 Times, citing two sources close to the mayor’s office it did not identify, 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 fires, as ordered by state leaders.