(Julianna Frieman, Headline USA) Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley, the first female and lesbian to lead the department, failed to stop California’s raging wildfires Wednesday as the city’s mayor jetted back from Africa.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass returned to the U.S. on Wednesday after ignoring meteorologists’ warnings of blaze-blowing winds to travel to Ghana on Tuesday for the African country’s presidential inauguration.
Omg you guys, this is terrible! It’s so bad.
This is on the West Side Pacific Coast Highway headed towards Malibu
In all my years living in LA I haven’t ever seen a fire this bad.
Please pray for everyone there.
pic.twitter.com/hcAZzqZVDZ— Yvonne Sayers (@theyvonnesayers) January 8, 2025
This is LA Mayor Karen Bass. She’s currently in Africa attending the inauguration of Ghana's new president. pic.twitter.com/JyH5RL9rDO
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 8, 2025
The fast-moving fires burned through multiple football fields worth of California neighborhoods, multiple outlets reported as more than 30,000 were put under evacuation in Los Angeles.
Photos and videos posted on social media show the “apocalyptic” state engulfed in the inferno.
Bass posted a blitz of updates to social media Tuesday night, writing on X that hundreds of firefighters were “working tirelessly” to contain the fires that caused several Californians to abandon their cars on roadways.
One video showed a bulldozer push empty cars out of the way as the Palisades Fire wrecked havoc.
🚨 NOW: The California fires are getting SO BAD that people are abandoning their cars and fleeing on foot
Bulldozers have been called in to remove the abandoned cars
I’m getting Maui vibes. And I HATE to say that. pic.twitter.com/9CjPzI8R3l
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 7, 2025
Hundreds of @LAFD firefighters have been fighting fires through the night.
Thank you to all the crews working tirelessly to respond and protect life and property.
— Mayor Karen Bass (@MayorOfLA) January 8, 2025
Social media users blasted Bass for her negligence, including an appalled X user who commented on one of Bass’s updates, “RESIGN! WHY ARE YOU IN GHANA?!”
The wildfires hit home for several celebrities and high-profile businessmen, striking the Pacific Palisades where A-listers like Steven Spielberg, Tom Hanks and Jennifer Lopez own property.
Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt announced their home was “burned to the ground,” according to Page Six.
Ben Affleck was also among the Hollywood stars forced to evacuate—TMZ reported he fled to ex-wife Jennifer Garner’s residence.
Billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso likened California’s fires to a “third world country,” noting that no water would come out of fire hydrants.
He added in a jab at the city’s leftist government by saying, “If you’re wondering, ‘Where is LA Mayor Karen Bass?’ She has been in Ghana, so she’s apparently on her way back. That’s why we have not seen her.“
FOX 11: "If you're wondering, 'Where is LA Mayor Karen Bass?' She has been in Ghana, so she's apparently on her way back. That's why we have not seen her." pic.twitter.com/tEF9q64HFK
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) January 8, 2025
Actor James Woods blamed “liberal idiots” for the Los Angeles wildfires, torching Democrats’ climate change narrative.
“This fire is not from ‘climate change,’ you ignorant asshole. It’s because liberal idiots like you elect liberal idiots like Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass. One doesn’t understand the first thing about fire management and the other can’t fill the water reservoirs,” Woods wrote on X.
This fire is not from “climate change,” you ignorant asshole. It’s because liberal idiots like you elect liberal idiots like Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass. One doesn’t understand the first thing about fire management and the other can’t fill the water reservoirs. #INSTABLOCK https://t.co/u49lWSmKri
— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) January 8, 2025
Others took aim at diversity, equity and inclusion hire Crowley, who took the helm at the Los Angeles Fire Department in March 2022.
In a previous news interview, the proud LGBT woman said there are “never enough” diversity hires when explaining her priority to create a DEI culture at work.
“Another DEI disaster,” popular meme account and political X influencer @catturd2 wrote.
First female and LGBTQ LA Fire Chief said her vision and strategic plan is for the fire department to be more diverse and inclusive. pic.twitter.com/yydfbwV9gG https://t.co/EXdtuAvM0O
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) January 8, 2025
Another DEI disaster. https://t.co/zYdwcN9D7Z
— Catturd ™ (@catturd2) January 8, 2025
In New Orleans on New Years’ Day, an ISIS-inspired terrorist killed 14 in a vehicular attack. Americans were outraged as police chief Anne Kirkpatrick, an elderly woman who lost her job in Oakland, Ca. for diving over pedestrians, briefed the press.
Outrage hit a fever pitch when a black female FBI agent wearing a nose ring falsely said the massacre on Bourbon Street was not a terror attack.
Why did New Orleans hire this DEI dinosaur to run it's Police force? 🤷
And then keep her around after this.👇🤔 pic.twitter.com/Nc0R0G0nq2— Epstein's Sheet. 🧻 (@meantweeting1) January 2, 2025
#6 – Top FBI Leader in New Orleans Was on Vacation Over New Year’s Despite Known Vulnerabilities on Bourbon Street – And Left DEI Special Agent with Nose Ring in Charge
According to the Oversight Project, top FBI brass Lyonel Myrthil was in Italy which is why they left Special… pic.twitter.com/9a8ofnkC8e
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) January 8, 2025
Special agent Alethea Duncan, who many online slammed as an incompetent DEI employee, was reportedly left to brief the press as top FBI brass Lyonel Myrthil—like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass—was traveling abroad.
Myrthil was reportedly vacationing in Italy with his family as his DEI colleague haphazardly addressed the tragedy.
Hawaii suffered a similar tragedy to California’s wildfires in 2023 when its own wildfires devastated the community of Lahaina in Maui.
President Joe Biden faced backlash that August after her compared the blaze to a small kitchen fire in his home—and later for his administration’s lackluster disaster response.
Julianna Frieman is a freelance writer published by the Daily Caller, Headline USA, The Federalist, and the American Spectator. Follow her on Twitter at @JuliannaFrieman.
