Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass defends ‘fastest’ wildfire recovery efforts
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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said recovery efforts after the Palisades fire in 2025 were among the fastest in California history, despite months of criticism.
Bass reflected on the massive wildfires that engulfed his city a year ago. “At Our Table” podcast Tuesday with Jaime Harrison.
“If you look at Hawaii right now, Hawaii, these fires happened two years ago,” Bass said. “And there are about 300 homes that are being rebuilt. “We currently have over 300 homes being rebuilt in the Palisades.”
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Mayor Karen Bass defended Los Angeles’ recovery efforts following January’s deadly wildfires. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images; Apu Gomes/Getty Images)
He continued, “Having said that, today is a holiday. People are still away from home. It doesn’t make anyone feel great for me to sit here and say this is one of the fastest recovery and rebuilding efforts the state of California has ever seen, and I’m proud of that. But I have to acknowledge the grief and the suffering and the pain that people are experiencing.”
Bass alleged that “opportunistic individuals” “intentionally spread misinformation” and lied about the fires, which led him to mislead the public about Los Angeles’ rebuilding efforts.
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The mayor of Los Angeles has suggested that climate change is playing a larger role in the damage caused by wildfires.
The Palisades fire destroyed more than 16,200 structures in 2025. (Apu Gomes/Getty Images)
“I would make it more general,” he said. “I would say as a nation, and frankly as a planet, because we haven’t been responsible for our environment. We have to prepare ourselves for extreme weather events that we would never have thought of. I’m thinking about the flooding that’s happening in the Pacific Northwest right now. We’re seeing hurricanes occur at strengths we haven’t seen before. So I don’t think it’s just fires. I think these are all extreme events, fires, floods, mudslides, I mean, you name it.”
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Bass added: “But, you know, that’s one of the things I’m really proud of in Los Angeles and California. Climate change is our way of life. It’s not a debate.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to Bass’ office for comment.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has been criticized for slow rebuilding efforts following deadly wildfires. (Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images)
Bass has come under a barrage of criticism for his handling of deadly and devastating fires in his city, including his visit to Ghana for the president’s inauguration when the fires first broke out.
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The Eaton and Palisades fires in California destroyed more than 16,200 structures in 2025. Construction has begun on fewer than 600 homes and businesses, and less than 4% of the structures have been demolished.
