LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has made unusually candid remarks about the city’s response to the devastating Palisades and Eaton wildfires, saying that “both sides botched it” when asked about emergency operations and evacuation notifications. The comments were made during a podcast interview and later reported by the Los Angeles Times, drawing attention to ongoing criticism of how the twin disasters were handled.
Bass’s remarks came near the end of a 66‑minute interview recorded at her official residence, Getty House, in which she discussed a range of topics including national politics and local issues. The mayor’s unguarded assessment, which was not included in the shorter version of the podcast widely shared online, reflected frustration with both city and county responses to the fires. She specifically criticized evacuation alerts in west Altadena — a community where nearly all of the fatalities occurred during the Eaton fire — saying officials failed to adequately warn residents they were in imminent danger.
“I’m responsible for everything,” Bass told the host of The Fifth Column podcast, acknowledging political accountability even as she described operational missteps by various agencies. Although Bass did not go into specific operational details on the Palisades response in the quoted remarks, she has previously pointed to delayed pre‑deployment of fire crews and internal disagreements as factors that hindered response efforts when extreme Santa Ana winds fueled rapidly spreading blazes.
The mayor’s office later confirmed that the final portion of the podcast recording was removed at their request, noting Bass believed her off‑the‑record comments were made once the formal interview had concluded. Still, the remarks have underscored ongoing scrutiny of how multiple agencies coordinated, or failed to coordinate, during one of the most destructive fire seasons in the region’s history.
The Palisades fire and the Eaton fire, both in early 2025, destroyed thousands of homes, displaced countless residents and triggered questions about evacuation planning, firefighting resource deployment and communication between city and county authorities.
Bass, who was abroad on a diplomatic trip when the Palisades fire first broke out, has previously defended her broader recovery efforts, including accelerated debris removal and permitting reforms, even as public polls showed a significant portion of Los Angeles residents giving her low marks for the initial response.
