Bass returns to Boyle Heights, voters recall Palisades

Bass’s travel – Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s rapid return to the Boyle Heights fire scene—after leaving for a Barack Obama Presidential Center dedication in Chicago—has not erased the political damage she faced during last year’s Palisades fire, when high Santa Ana winds an

Around 6 p.m. Thursday, Karen Bass was back in Los Angeles.

The mayor had been away when a massive fire broke out Wednesday at a cold storage facility in Boyle Heights. and the first hours of her absence became part of the story again—this time as toxic smoke drifted across parts of the region and firefighters worked to contain a blaze that has now lasted seven days.

Fire in Boyle Heights began burning at a nearly 500,000-square-foot cold storage facility run by a company called Lineage. It started on the roof. caused a partial collapse. and then pushed flames into the building. where 85 million pounds of food are stored. Firefighters have been battling the inferno for seven days. and smoke has made air dangerous to breathe in neighborhoods across the Los Angeles region.

Bass, who is running for reelection, declared a local emergency after arriving back in Los Angeles and has made repeated visits to the scene. She has hosted five news conferences, met with local leaders and families affected by the fire, and distributed masks and air purifiers.

But even with that visible pushback—quick return and constant appearances—some residents and critics say the timing still echoes last year’s Palisades fire.

In Bass’s interview, she said she rarely travels and worries about what could happen when she does, “whether it’s a fire or a big car accident.” She also said she chose Chief Jaime Moore to lead the Los Angeles Fire Department because she trusts him to handle a crisis like this fire.

“I was in Chicago three hours away, and I was there 24 hours,” Bass said, describing constant communication with the chief during her brief trip.

Bass left Los Angeles for the dedication of the Barack Obama Presidential Center in Chicago just hours before the Boyle Heights fire began burning. She returned around 6 p.m. Thursday, and her first day back was marked by on-the-ground meetings and public briefings.

That travel pattern is what brought the Palisades comparisons back.

Last year. Bass was in Ghana on a diplomatic trip when the deadly Palisades fire spread amid extraordinarily high Santa Ana winds that forecasters had warned about for days. While the scale of destruction in Boyle Heights does not compare with the 12 lives lost and thousands of homes destroyed in the Palisades fire. people across Los Angeles have described flashbacks as toxic smoke hovers over parts of the region.

Bass’s political vulnerability tied to her absence has been documented in polling. A May poll by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, found that 57% of likely Los Angeles voters had unfavorable views of Bass, while 35% had favorable views.

Her trip to Ghana during the Palisades fire became part of the broader political narrative as well. Bass was designated by then-President Biden to be part of his official delegation to attend the inauguration of Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama. She was photographed at an embassy cocktail party in Accra as the Palisades fire exploded on Jan. 7, 2025.

Last week, there was no warning that anything was amiss when she left the city. Yet a parallel is now pressing itself into the political conversation as Bass campaigns against City Councilmember Nithya Raman in the November runoff election.

“We’re talking about a fire, and she’s out of town, so it completely and totally reinforces that narrative of January 2025, and that’s not helpful,” Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University, said.

Guerra said the city’s expectation of leadership during emergencies is not just about communication. “With today’s tech and instant communication. is it really that different that she’s in Chicago making calls than at City Hall?” he said. “But it has always been the case for executives that. symbolically. it is their job to be at the point of the crisis to assure those that are impacted directly. and the city as a whole. that they have the situation under control.”.

Critics have also pointed to political ties around the Boyle Heights blaze. Guerra said it didn’t help that Kevin Marchetti. the owner of the cold storage facility operating in the burning building. contributed the maximum. $1. 800. to Bass’ reelection campaign last year. Raman declined to comment on Bass’ handling of the Boyle Heights fire.

Spencer Pratt, who ran against Bass in the nonpartisan primary election and lost his house in the Palisades fire, drew the comparison directly. Steve Hilton, who is running for governor, echoed it as well.

At a Monday news conference in Boyle Heights, Hilton said, “I don’t know what’s wrong with Karen Bass that she seems to keep leaving the city every time something happens.”

Pratt posted on X on Sunday that Bass was away again while fires erupted in different parts of the city. “Karen was sipping cocktails in Chicago when the Boyle Heights Fire erupted. just as she was sipping cocktails in Ghana when our Palisades Fire erupted. I warned you all … what happened to us will happen to all of LA,” he wrote.

As Bass traveled back from Ghana during the Palisades fire. she repeatedly told her staff she could make calls from the military flight. and her text messages showed attempts to coordinate. But during one call or Zoom with staffers. she ran into technical problems. texting. “I am listening don’t know why you can’t [hear] me.”.

The Boyle Heights fire is different in its scale. Yet the questions residents are asking right now are familiar: Who is watching the clock in the earliest moments?. How visible is leadership when the flames are first noticed?. And what does the public need to see to feel the situation is truly under control?.

During the Palisades fire, then-Fire Chief Kristin Crowley publicly accused city leaders of failing to give her department the resources it needed. Bass ultimately removed Crowley from her post over her handling of the fire.

Moore, the new chief, has presented a coordinated picture with the mayor during the Boyle Heights incident. Moore told The Times that about 30 minutes after the fire began. he was on the scene. and ten minutes after he arrived he was on the phone with Bass. Over the next day, while Bass was in Chicago, Moore estimated that they spoke six times.

Moore rejected the suggestion that Bass needed to be physically in Los Angeles to lead effectively during the crisis.

“She answered the phone. She provided me exactly what I needed, and that was, ‘Whatever you need to do, you do it,’” Moore said.

In a separate comment, Moore said her absence was a nonissue, adding, “Until Mayor Bass goes through our 20-week drill tower, and she learns to fight a fire and she can stand next to me on a hose line, I don’t need her in this city.”

Even as Moore and Bass have aimed for a unified front—visits to the scene. news conferences. and emergency declarations—the political storyline formed a long time ago is still resurfacing. For voters who connected Bass’s earlier absence to a catastrophe shaped by extreme winds. the Boyle Heights fire is not just another emergency.

It is another moment where timing may matter as much as decisions.

Karen Bass Boyle Heights fire Palisades fire Jaime Moore Nithya Raman UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll Santa Ana winds Los Angeles politics