Mayor Bass' deleted text messages from Palisades Fire released

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles mayor's office released a series of deleted text messages that were sent between Karen Bass and city and county officials as the Palisades Fire erupted. 

FOX 11 has been trying to get the text messages for nearly two months, but the mayor's office said the messages had been auto-deleted by her phone. 

The messages were ultimately obtained on March 27 through a public records request. 

The backstory:

Bass was in Ghana when the Palisades and Eaton fires broke out on Jan. 7, and spent much of the next day traveling the more than 7,500 miles back to Los Angeles.

She and her office said she was in communication with city officials while she was traveling back to LA.

SUGGESTED: Mayor Bass opens up about trip to Ghana during LA fires: 'I felt absolutely terrible'

Bass was heavily criticized for being halfway around the world at a time when the city needed her. 

In an interview with FOX 11, Bass said she made a mistake in going and felt terrible about not being present. 

The mayor continues to claim that former LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley did not call to warn her in advance of the trip about the weather, wind, and high fire risk, despite forecasters sharing the news days prior. 

What's in the text messages?

Dig deeper:

While in Ghana, Bass received text messages from her staff, members of the city council, the White House, US senators, and even mayors from other cities. 

One of the first text messages to be sent about the fire was from the mayor's deputy chief of staff, Celine Cordero, around 11:48 a.m. local time on Jan. 7. That message read "On phone with Chief Crowley now. Two significant fires in city now. She will call you mayor. Hollywood, Pacific Palisades. Potential evacuations, significant resources. 40 mile winds, 100 acres affected in the next 20 minutes."

Cordero followed up less than an hour later with a group chat saying, "Palisades fire is now 200 acres. An evacuation order is being prepared to go out. The Palisades Recreation Center will be used as an evacuation center. Governor will be at command post in 2.5 hours. Crowley said homes will be lost soon. Crowley and I meeting at eco in a minute. 25,000 people expected to be evacuated (in city thus far)."

Then, just before 2 p.m., LA County Supervisor Lindsay Horvath, who represents Pacific Palisades, reached out to the mayor saying, "I understand our county fire department is supporting. And our Office of Emergency Management has been in touch with city staff. Also, do you need additional help support anything you want to put on our radar at this time?"

Bass responded by saying, "Thanks for asking. I think we are good. I'll call you in the AM."

At about 8 p.m. local time, Cordero's text messages became more dire. She wrote, "we will be expanding the evac zone all the way to the Santa Monica city limits and all the way to the top of Mandeville Canyon."

About two hours later Cordero sent a message from the LAFD saying about 3,000 acres had burned, and that civilian injuries were reported. 

Cordero kept messaging Bass updates on the fire and evacuations. 

Bass' flight back to LA

Some of the text messages were redacted, and we don't know what conversations were had by phone. Bass had access to a military phone while she was on the flight back from Ghana. 

The issue of fire hydrants running out of water was a main concern. It appears the first mention of water in the Palisades was not made until the morning of January 8th, when the mayor got a text message from the CEO of the LADWP apologizing for missing her call. 

CEO Janisse Quiñones sent a lengthy text message saying, in part, "we were able to open refill stations for our system for fire engines, and we sent all our water trucks to Palisades to give them more sources of water."

Bass wrote back "This is great news. Thank you. Landing in four hours."

You can read the entire series of text messages in the PDF below.