Effort to recall Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass underway after January’s wildfires

• An effort to recall Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is underway after January’s deadly wildfires. Bass was criticized for leaving the country during the fires, which killed 29 people and destroyed thousands of structures.
• She fired Fire Chief Kristin Crowley over the handling of the fires, and the City Council upheld her decision.
• To move forward, recall supporters need to collect 330,000 signatures. Bass’ strategist called the recall “an extreme right-wing political stunt.”

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An effort to recall Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass following the deadly and destructive wildfires in January 2025 is underway. The group behind the movement filed paperwork with the Los Angeles Ethics Commission, the Los Angeles Times reported, after initially filing with the state of California during the week of Feb. 24.

The Palisades Fire and Eaton Fire broke out on Jan. 7. In the days leading up to the fires, Bass left the country for a planned visit to Africa.

She claimed she and her aides were not aware of the fire severity. However, on Jan. 6, the mayor re-posted a National Weather Service Los Angeles alert on her official X account.

“There is an expected destructive and potentially life-threatening windstorm starting Tuesday morning through Wednesday afternoon,” the warning said.

Bass was in Ghana for the swearing-in of its president as the Palisades and Eaton fires tore through neighborhoods and business complexes. Bass returned to Los Angeles on Jan. 8. Bass later called the trip a “mistake.”

The Palisades Fire killed 12 people, burned 23,707 acres and destroyed more than 6,800 structures, according to Cal Fire. The agency also said the Eaton Fire killed 17 people, burned 14,021 acres and destroyed more than 9,414 structures.

Bass fired Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley in February 2025 over the handling of the wildfires. Bass said Crowley sent home 1,000 firefighters the day the fires broke out. Crowley denied the claim and instead blamed the fires’ destruction on a lack of funding and maintenance of fire trucks.

Crowley appealed the decision and attempted to be reinstated by the Los Angeles City Council at a hearing on Tuesday, March 4. However, the council sided with Bass.

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Now, Los Angeles voters will decide whether they want to remove Bass from office.

For the recall effort to move forward, Bass’ opponents will need to collect 330,000 signatures in the next four months to spark a recall election, the Times reported.

In response, Bass’ political strategist, Douglas Herman, said the recall filing is “nothing more than another extreme right-wing political stunt designed to divide Los Angeles when we need to move forward.”