Mayoral candidate Austin Beutner presses Mayor Bass on Palisades fire response

With the one-year anniversary of the Palisades fire approaching this week, the disaster has played a limited role in Mayor Karen Bass’s reelection messaging — a vacuum her political opponents are seeking to fill.

Standing in front of a fire-damaged home still under construction in the Palisades, mayoral candidate Austin Beutner accused the mayor of failing to take responsibility for the city’s response to the fire, raised questions about the accuracy and credibility of the Los Angeles Fire Department’s after-action report, and pushed for the creation of an independent investigative commission.

“Mayor Bass says the buck stops with her, but she denies any responsibility,” he said. “Instead of acknowledging that mistakes were made and making changes, she’s allowing a coverup to occur.”

Beutner argued that the fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed thousands of homes, could have been less damaging had the city taken additional steps ahead of time. He questioned decisions related to pre-deployment of firefighters, and staffing levels on Jan. 7, and whether tools such as drones, thermal imaging and community patrols were adequately used to help spot fire risks.

“The initial response would’ve been much, much more impactful if pre-deployment had occurred,” Beutner said.

Much of Beutner’s criticism centered on the LAFD after-action report released in October, which was intended to evaluate the city’s response during the fire and identify lessons learned. Beutner said his most serious concern was that the report’s author declined to endorse the final version, a fact he said raised concerns about its accuracy and independence.

“The purpose of an after-action report is to say, ‘what can we learn so it doesn’t happen again?’,” he said. “And if the people who prepared the report said, ‘do not trust this work,’ then how can we ever learn? How can we ever go forward?”

Beutner also repeatedly questioned what role the mayor played in emergency preparations before the fire, including whether she reviewed response plans with the fire department leadership or other city officials before leaving the country. He said Bass has stated she was unaware of fire warnings that were sent to her office – a claim he disputed.

“If that’s true, the only conclusion one can draw is that she wasn’t doing her job in the first place,” he said.

While Beutner framed the fire response as a leadership failure, Bass has emphasized other areas where she argues her administration has delivered results. At a downtown rally launching her reelection campaign on Saturday, Dec. 13, Bass and her allies focused largely on issues including clashes with the Trump administration over immigration enforcement, a decline in homelessness, housing production and her role in brokering politically difficult labor agreements that averted planned city worker layoffs amid a major budget shortfall.

In a statement Monday, Bass campaign spokesperson Douglas Herman accused Beutner of politicizing the anniversary of the fire.

“On the one-year anniversary of the most destructive wildfire in our history, which claimed 12 lives and destroyed thousands of homes, Austin Beutner is seeking to capitalize politically on a community’s grief and loss,” Herman said.

Herman said Beutner’s criticism is “full of misinformation” and overlooks what the campaign described as one of the fastest rebuilds in the state.

“Beutner may choose to divide people and tear down the progress that’s being made, but Mayor Bass will continue to work to unite people and focus on doing everything that she can to get everyone in the Palisades back in homes, business re-opened, and beloved community spaces up and running again so that the Palisades can once again thrive,” he said.

According to the Bass campaign, more than 400 homes are currently under construction, more than 800 homes have city-approved rebuilding plans, and rebuilding plans are being approved twice as fast due to the mayor’s executive executions aimed at cutting red tape.

Looking ahead, Beutner called for the creation of a “truly independent commission” composed of respected local leaders, with the authority and resources to hold public hearings and question city officials, including the mayor, fire department leadership, police, the Department of Water and Power and City Council leadership. He said the commission’s findings should be made public.

He also urged the mayor to hold regular in-person public forums in Pacific Palisades, where residents could ask questions and receive updates on recovery efforts.

In addition, Beutner said he supports fully waiving or reducing rebuilding and permit fees for residents and business owners affected by the fire, arguing the city should not charge people to rebuild their lives after a disaster in which city decisions played a role.

“​​Why is the city going to charge someone to put their life back together for a tragedy that the city played a role in,” he said. “Plain and simple, they should be waived.”

Bass has said rebuilding fees should be waived, and some fees supports fully waiving under a mayoral executive order. However, the City Council, citing budgetary concerns, has delayed action on a permanent ordinance to waive rebuilding fees for homes and businesses destroyed in January’s wildfires.

Asked what he would do differently to push such measures through City Hall, Beutner criticized Bass for not personally appearing before council members to advocate for the proposal.

“That’s what a mayor does,” he said. “Find a way to get eight votes and make sure it gets passed. She didn’t show up. You’ve got to start by showing up.”

When asked about whether he would have kept former Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, Beutner did not give a direct answer, instead arguing that focusing on individual officials after the fact misses broader leadership failures.

He said decisions made before and during emergencies should be shared responsibilities between a mayor and department leadership, particularly on what he described as an extraordinarily high-risk day.

“Scapegoating the people who work for you, I don’t think that’s effective leadership,” he said.

He questioned whether Mayor Bass was involved in key decisions at the time, including discussions with Crowley about pre-deployment and whether to hold over additional firefighters.

“As mayor, I’d be in the room with Chief Crowley, saying, ‘Should we hold over the 1,000 firefighters, or not?’” he said. “You own it together.”