Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing mounting criticism over her handling of a large warehouse fire that has burned for nearly a week.
The fire broke out last Wednesday at a privately owned cold-storage warehouse in Boyle Heights, roughly three miles east of downtown Los Angeles. The facility is reported to span about 500,000 square feet.
As concerns grew among nearby residents, Bass was asked Saturday whether the smoke from the blaze posed a serious air-quality threat to the surrounding community.
“Not to the extent that it required a mandatory evacuation,” the mayor said in response.
She then added: “No, the air is not dangerous.”
Bass, a Democrat, has also drawn scrutiny for being out of town in Chicago for the dedication of the Barack Obama Presidential Center when the fire first erupted in Los Angeles.
Critics on social media were quick to seize on her absence. “Nice that you decided to return home a few days after the big Gala at Obama’s edifice,” one user wrote on X. “Heard there might be some fires this summer. You should start planning on bouncing out of town at the first sign of smoke.”
Another commenter called Bass “the worst mayor in LA history” and urged her to step down, writing: “There is a pattern here. The city burns and you are no where [sic] to be seen.”
The warehouse blaze started Wednesday and is still raging. Bass declared a state of emergency on Saturday because of the fire
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass said that the air caused by the warehouse fire in LA’s Boyle Heights working class neighborhood, about five miles east of downtown, was ‘not dangerous’
Bass, who declared an emergency for the warehouse fire on Saturday, was also out of town on a trip to Ghana when the Palisades fire started last January.
One user on X wrote: ‘This is 2 years in a row now, how can any sane person vote for this clown.’
‘She knows she will face 0 consequences and behaves as such!’ another said.
A third user simply posted a photo of a plume of smoke and added, ‘Karen Bass’ Los Angeles stinks.’
Former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who ran for LA mayor, was among those who took aim at Bass in wake of the City of Angels’ latest concerning fire.
‘This is what Karen Basura was doing while Boyle Heights was choking in toxic smoke…sippin’ cocktails in Chi-town!’ Pratt wrote Tuesday morning on X.
Pratt quoted a post that showed apparent photographs of Bass at the Obama Presidential Center’s dedication event in Chicago last Thursday.
‘If you thought she just hated us on the West Side, think again,’ Pratt said. ‘She enjoys when the Latino community goes up in flames, too! Look at that smile!’
Bass was not in LA from last Wednesday to Thursday as she attended the Obama event, her office confirmed to ABC7.
But she was ‘in close contact’ with Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore for the roughly 24 hours she was out of town, her office said.
‘Another fire, pantsuit and star studded event while humans and animals continue to suffer,’ one user on X wrote.
Another said: ‘She spends more time traveling than doing her job in LA, but she learned from the best because that’s Gavin Newsom all the way!’
After Bass’s comments, the air quality conditions in Boyle Heights were described as ‘very unhealthy’ by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) on Monday.
The burning warehouse, which is operated by Michigan company Lineage Logistics, has rows that are 65ft tall and 650ft long loaded with pallets and boxes filled with about 85 million pounds of frozen food stored inside.
Authorities said that exposure to the smoke could cause temporary irritation to the eyes, nose, throat and lungs.
More severe symptoms include breathing problems and chest pain.
On Monday, the the South Coast Air Quality Management District said the air quality conditions in Boyle Heights were ‘very unhealthy’
Boyle Heights residents have been urged to wear respirator masks because of the conditions brought forward by the fire
California Gov. Gavin Newsom also declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County because of the fire on Saturday.
As part of that response, about 5.5 million N95 respirator masks were made available to those affected.
Officials from the AQMD have urged locals to wear a N95 or P100 mask if they must go outside.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, who represents Boyle Heights, called for more information about the warehouse fire and air conditions to be released.
Jurado said local families were ‘dealing with smoke, odor, ash, closed parks and community spaces, disrupted routines, and serious concerns about what they are breathing.’
‘Yet we still do not have clear enough information about what burned, what may still be burning, what is in the air, what is in the ash, and what risks remain,’ she added.
The Daily Mail has reached out to Bass’s office for comment.
