Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was at a cocktail party at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in Ghana on Jan. 7 when the Palisades Fire exploded, photos posted on social media show.
Bass was in Ghana as part of a Biden administration delegation to the inauguration of Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama. A delegation meeting was held at the US Ambassador’s residence in Accra, Ghana, following the inauguration.
Bass had left Los Angeles several days before Mahama’s inauguration, as the National Weather Service intensified its warnings of an approaching windstorm. She returned to Los Angeles on January 8, more than 24 hours after the fires started. His decision to leave the city amid weather warnings and the timing of his return have come under intense scrutiny in recent days, sparking anger and national media coverage.
In the days after the fires broke out, Bass was lambasted for her early absence by her former mayoral opponent, Rick Caruso, and others. Pod Save America host Tommy Vietor wrote, “Inexplicable decision not to come back sooner” on X, and Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel, who supported Bass in the 2022 mayoral race , told Puck: “If it is true that she left the country on a Saturday, after the warning, it is a dereliction of duty.
Bass appeared to have posed for photos at the party just before 8 p.m. Ghana time on Tuesday evening, or just before 12 p.m. Los Angeles time, according to a photo posted on social media where an individual’s watch is visible. Evacuation orders were issued in the Palisades minutes later.
The photo was posted on Instagram and LinkedIn by Marissa Bowman, a municipal employee who was not part of the official delegation.
“The presidential delegation was greeted by the United States Ambassador to Ghana as they made their way to the plane,” Bass spokesman Zach Seidl said, referring to the military flight Bass took. from Accra to Washington, DC, before boarding a commercial flight to Los Angeles. “Most of the time the mayor was in another room on calls from Los Angeles”
Seidl said the delegation left the ambassador’s house between 8 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. local time, heading directly to the tarmac of a military base where the mayor “was on his way back to Los Angeles on a military flight at 9 p.m. »
That would place his departure from the party between 12:00 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. Los Angeles time last Tuesday.
Bass arrived in Los Angeles around 11 a.m. Wednesday.
Other photos posted by Bowman and Ghanaian host Nathaniael Attoh show Bass smiling, posing and chatting with attendees. Bowman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The city’s emergency department alert Angelenos about the fire on social media at 11:22 a.m. on January 7, writing on » which already exceeded 10 acres, and warning residents to avoid the area.
Pacific Coast Highway was partially closed at Topanga Canyon Boulevard at 11:30 a.m. the same day due to the fire, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
At noon that day, thick smoke was visible all over the city. The city issued evacuation orders a few minutes after noon.
Staff writer Laura Nelson contributed reporting.
