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Embattled Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass — who has been widely criticized for her handling of the historic wildfires devastating the city — revealed that her own brother lost his home to the still-burning Palisades Fire.

“The loss that you’re going through, I share indirectly. It’s hit my family too,” Bass told a virtual meeting on Thursday, according to the LA Times.

“My brother, who has lived in Malibu for 40 years, been through many fires, evacuated many times — this time didn’t get away.”


  Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks at a press conference about the devastating wildfires on Jan. 9, 2025. County of Los Angeles Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass speaks at a press conference about the devastating wildfires on Jan. 9, 2025. County of Los Angeles

  Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are briefed in an area damaged by the Palisades Fire on Jan. 8, 2025. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom are briefed in an area damaged by the Palisades Fire on Jan. 8, 2025. ALLISON DINNER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Bass said her brother’s house was her “family home” where her relatives would gather during the holidays.

With the loss came “a type of shock and grief that is trauma that will be with us for a long time,” she told 1,000 people who attended the volunteer Pacific Palisades Community Council meeting.

Bass was notoriously halfway across the world in Ghana when fires erupted in the city on Jan. 7.

Upon her return, she faced immense backlash for her administration’s significant budget cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department, the chief of which had warned that the lack of funding would leave firefighters ill equipped to battle blazes of this scale.

Since the wildfires, a number of eye-opening scandals at Bass’ city hall have been revealed amid renewed scrutiny.

The Palisades Fire, the largest of the incessant wildfires in the region, has been burning for more than two weeks, torching roughly 36 square miles of some of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the state, according to the latest updates from Cal Fire.


  The Los Angeles skyline is covered in orange haze and smoke from the nearby Palisades Fire on Jan. 8, 2025. AFP via Getty Images The Los Angeles skyline is covered in orange haze and smoke from the nearby Palisades Fire on Jan. 8, 2025. AFP via Getty Images

More than 6,800 structures have been destroyed and at least 11 people have been killed in the Palisades Fire, which was 75% contained as of Friday morning.

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