California fires live: Pressure grows on LA Mayor Karen Bass as broken promise is revealed

The Democrat traveled the world as a Democratic member of Congress and the House Foreign Affairs Committee before becoming mayor of LA in 2022.

While campaigning for mayor, she said, “Obviously not only would I live here, but I wouldn’t travel internationally either – the only places I would go are DC, Sacramento, San Francisco and New York, in relation to LA ‘

But Bass was infamous in Ghana when the horrific forest fires broke out in her city.

The mayor left to witness the inauguration of Ghana’s president even after the National Weather Service began issuing warnings about the storm that eventually led to the fires.

She cut her visit short and flew back to LAX on Thursday, January 9.

But Sky News reporter Niall Blevins spotted her by chance at the airport and subjected her to a brutal two-minute interrogation.

Bass stared blankly into space when asked if she owed her constituents an apology and if she was reconsidering her position.

Defenders of the mayor said it was right and appropriate that she undertake a number of international trips as the figurehead of one of the most influential cities in the world.

Bass traveled to Paris this summer for the closing ceremonies of the Olympics, with LA hosting the games in 2028.

At a press conference last week, she admitted that there would be an autopsy into what went wrong in the city’s response once the crisis was under control.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna revealed Sunday that the fake firefighter was arrested in glitzy Malibu — which was particularly ravaged by the largest of the fires — when he was caught breaking into abandoned and burned-out homes along the waterfront.

The burglar dressed as a firefighter sat on the side of the road in the Malibu area, prompting LA Country Sheriff Luna to ask him if he was okay.

A man has been arrested after firefighters caught him “actively setting fires” in Los Angeles county, it has emerged.

Ruben Montes, 29, was arrested Sunday on arson charges in Irwindale, California, about 16 miles from Altadena, where the deadly Eaton Fire continues to rage.

Along with crews from other states and Mexico, hundreds iMembers of the California prison system also helped fight the fires. Nearly 950 prison firefighters were removing and brushing out wood ahead of the fires to slow their spread, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

The practice is controversial because inmates are paid little for dangerous and difficult work: $10.24 a day, and more for 24-hour shifts, according to the Department of Corrections.

Extremely dry weather conditions due to prolonged drought, dry vegetation and strong Santa Ana winds reaching up to 80 miles per hour in some areas this week proved to be the ‘perfect storm’ for the worst fire to hit the area in more than two decades has seen.

Los Angeles residents posted signs threatening to shoot looters, while nearly 70 opportunistic criminals were arrested while trying to break into evacuated homes.

The relatively calm Sunday allowed some people to return to previously evacuated areas.

Jim Orlandini, who lost his hardware store in Altadena, a hard-hit neighborhood next to Pasadena, said his house survived for 40 years.

“We didn’t sleep at all on Tuesday night because we thought the house was gone,” he said Sunday as he recalled the moment the fires spread to his neighborhood.

“The whole time I was thinking, I don’t know what I’m going to find when I come back here and after forty years, you know, you have a lot of things that you forget that would disappear if the house burned down. . So we are grateful that this is not the case.’

Homes destroyed in the Eaton Fire are left in the dark of night on January 12, 2025, in Altadena, California.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry have been branded ‘disaster tourists’ by Justine Bateman after appearing as volunteers during the LA bushfires.

The Hollywood actress, 58, took to X/Twitter to blast the couple after they were seen in footage dressed in civilian clothes and talking to victims and other helpers.

From protecting P. Diddy and enriching billionaires to an act of war and a deliberate political effort to expedite high-speed rail in California, internet weirdos have had a hell of a day.

Others have claimed it’s part of a conspiracy to expedite 15-minute city plans for LA.

Some have even claimed there is a link between the use of smart meters and the destruction of homes, with lithium batteries blamed for starting the fires.

Firefighters scrambled Sunday to make further progress on the wildfires that have destroyed thousands of homes and killed 24 people in the Los Angeles area, as forecasters again warned of dangerous weather with the return of high winds this week. At least 16 people were missing, and authorities said the number was expected to rise.

The National Weather Service has issued red flag warnings through Wednesday for severe fire conditions, with sustained winds of 50 mph and gusts in the mountains up to 70 mph. The most dangerous day will be Tuesday, weather service meteorologist Rich Thompson said.

“You’re going to have some really strong Santa Ana wind gusts, a very dry atmosphere and still very dry brush, so we still have some very critical fire conditions,” Thompson said at a community meeting Saturday evening.