To the editor: I just don’t buy the premise that Mayor Karen Bass isn’t responsible for the Palisades fire (“Letters to the Editor: Mayoral candidates should offer fire solutions beyond just blaming Bass,” May 13). I realize, as she has said, that she isn’t a fireperson, but she is in charge of firing those responsible. Instead, some of them turned up at the Academy Awards to take a bow.
The tragedy that cost 12 lives could have been avoided by stationing a firetruck at the scene of the Lachman fire. Firefighters on the scene had declared it was not completely out, only to be ordered by someone not there to roll up hoses and leave the site. Why wasn’t the site monitored later if they wanted to avoid overtime? As reported in the Los Angeles Times, the head of the firefighters’ union more than doubled his base salary in 2022 with overtime payouts, not to mention the reported $230,000 in unsupported expenses.
Who might be responsible for allowing someone to plunder the city treasury but Bass, and for what reason that the public would accept? She hasn’t cleaned house at all except for firing the chief, who blamed her at a press conference. The whole story smacks of political intrigue. It would be dumb to reinvest with the same people in charge.
Recall the ’93 fire in Topanga, where fire engines showed up from all over the state and Malibu and the Palisades were saved. Where was the multi-agency effort this time?
Larry Nelson, Brentwood
