Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt confronted Democratic Mayor Karen Bass Wednesday over her handling of January 2025’s deadly wildfires.
During a mayoral debate on NBC LA, Pratt condemned the draining of the reservoirs, including the Santa Ynez Reservoir, in the lead up to the wildfires in East Palisades and Eaton. He also alleged that Bass refused to provide the Los Angeles Fire Department with the necessary funds in order to fight the wildfires.
“To the mayor Karen Bass’ one thousand firefighters were available, but there were no engines for them because there were seventeen million dollars that Chief [Kristin] Crowley had asked the mayor for nine weeks before and Mayor Karen Bass denied it,” Pratt said. “So they may have been available, but they didn’t have the equipment they needed. Not to mention [Los Angeles Department of Water and Power CEO] Janisse Quiñones, who Mayor Karen Bass put into her position of power at the LAPD, she drained both of these reservoirs that these firefighters needed to put out these fires.”
Pratt alleged the reservoirs were made for wildfire protection, not drinking water, and vowed to add over twenty dip sites in order to put out wildfires.
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Quiñones took the job at LADWP in May 2024 with a $750,000 salary. While she and other high-ranking members raked in big bucks, the fire hydrants in the area ran dry as firefighters attempted to contain the raging fires that destroyed over 11,000 homes and killed at least 31 people.
Bass rejected Pratt’s criticisms, saying that the reservoirs were for drinking water. She also said the planes were unable to fly and put out the wildfires because of the strong winds.
“He’s saying several things that are completely inaccurate,” Bass said. “First of all, there was one reservoir that was out of commission. He’s correct that a million years ago, it was for wildfires. But over the last 30 or 40 years, it’s been for drinking water. He talked about the winds, that is just completely inaccurate. If that were accurate, then the planes would have been able to fly. And so if the winds reached close to 100 miles an hour and the planes were unable to fly. So if there were reservoirs, if that reservoir were open, it would not have worked.”
“She is an incredible liar,” Pratt responded. “Everyone on their phones, Google it. 40 weather stations in the Pacific Palisades, it never went above 40 miles per hour.”
Critics accused Bass of misrepresenting the high wind speeds to justify her administration’s response to the wildfires. Bass also received scrutiny for traveling to Ghana while the wildfires raged across the city and left around 200,000 of her constituents without a home.
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