Mayor Karen Bass was the “ultimate authority” overseeing the Los Angeles Fire Department’s media messaging following an after-action report on the catastrophic Palisades Fire, according to a report published Friday — though a mayoral adviser told City News Service that Bass did nothing inappropriate or deceptive regarding the rollout of the report. The assertion in Friday’s Times story was based on an internal email the paper said it reviewed, and was separate from information in a Times story last week that said Bass had directed changes to the after-action report over concerns about legal liabilities — which Bass denied last week. In Friday’s story, the Times wrote that the “carefully coordinated approach” led by Bass in October 2025 also involved the release of the Palisades Fire after-action report after federal prosecutors announced the part played in the wildfire by the smaller fire. The email discussed in the Friday Times story is an Oct. 9 email from LAFD spokesperson Capt. Bass last week called the Times story “completely fabricated,” adding, “There was no cover-up on my part.

Source: Los Angeles Times February 14, 2026 10:37 UTC