Mayor Karen Bass on Friday called for a full investigation into firefighters’ accounts that Los Angeles Fire Department crews were ordered to leave a smoldering canyon days before flames reignited into the devastating Palisades fire.
In a letter to Interim Fire Chief Ronnie Villanueva, Bass called the revelations “tremendously alarming” and urged the department to “thoroughly investigate” the response to the Lachman fire.
“A full understanding of the Lachman fire response is essential to an accurate accounting of what occurred during the January wildfires,” Bass wrote. “This will continue to guide our ongoing reforms, which include enhancing pre-deployment protocols, strengthening interagency coordination, upgrading communications technology and expanding training at all staff levels.”
Bass’s handling of the January wildfires — and her broader approach to crisis response — has emerged as a flashpoint in next year’s mayoral race, drawing criticism from opponents who say the city’s leadership failed to act decisively in the disaster’s aftermath.
The Los Angeles Times reported this week that firefighters responding to the Jan. 1 Lachman fire warned their battalion chief that parts of the Pacific Palisades canyon remained dangerously hot, with smoldering stumps and rocks.
Internal text messages reviewed by the paper show several firefighters raised concerns about leaving the area prematurely, fearing the 8-acre blaze could reignite.
On Jan. 2, despite their warnings, crews were ordered to pack up and leave. Five days later, amid intense winds, the fire rekindled, igniting the deadly Palisades fire, which destroyed more than 7,000 structures and claimed 12 lives before it was fully contained on Jan. 31.
Federal officials have said the original Lachman blaze was deliberately set and smoldered underground in a canyon root system until it re-erupted on Jan. 7.
The Los Angeles Fire Department did not immediately respond Friday to questions about the internal firefighter accounts. But in an Oct. 9 statement, Interim Fire Chief Villanueva said the January blaze was not the result of failed suppression efforts, but of a “holdover fire” — a fire that smolders undetected beneath the surface and can reignite under extreme conditions.
“Holdover fires can be nearly impossible to detect with infrared imaging, as smoldering often occurs deep below the surface, especially in chaparral terrain where dense root systems conceal residual heat,” Villanueva said at the time. “Under extreme winds, low humidity, and prolonged drought, these fires can reignite despite full suppression and containment efforts. The January 7 fire was not a rekindle or due to failed suppression but the reactivation of an undetectable holdover fire under extraordinary wind conditions.”
Councilmember Traci Park, who represents the Pacific Palisades and whose district bore the brunt of the January wildfires, has pushed for an outside, independent after-action report into the city’s response.
On Friday, she reiterated her stance.
“I have been clear from day one: the residents of Pacific Palisades deserve honest, transparent answers and full accountability about what happened on and before January 7, 2025,” she said in a statement. “The LAFD should not be investigating itself given the seriousness and scope of what happened, period. The risk reported by residents and frontline responders were ignored for too long.”
She added that the review she requested, which was approved by the City Council, would provide “a full accounting of what happened and what didn’t happen on January 7, 2025.”
The mayor’s response to the January wildfires has become a point of contention in the 2026 mayoral race.
Former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner, who is running to unseat Bass, said her call for the Fire Department “to investigate itself” falls short of what’s needed.
“Ten months after the tragedy in the Palisades, and there’s still incomplete information and insufficient accountability for what happened,” Beutner said in a statement Friday. “The Mayor and City Council need to create an independent commission, like the Christopher Commission, comprised of respected members of our City. … Everyone in Los Angeles needs to know what happened so we can make sure it never happens again.”
In early October, the LAFD released its own 70-page after-action review of the Palisades fire, detailing the department’s response, staffing and resource challenges, and the impact of extreme wind conditions. The report came shortly after federal authorities announced the arrest of 29-year-old Jonathan Rinderknecht, who is suspected of starting the Jan. 7 blaze.