$1M Crisis Response Team Watches Wildfires from the Sidelines, No Activation Orders From Bass

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is under fire for her failure to deploy a highly trained crisis response team amid the city’s deadliest wildfire disaster in history, as reported by The New York Post.

The Palisades and Eaton fires have claimed the lives of at least 25 people, destroyed more than 10,000 homes and businesses, and scorched an area half the size of Brooklyn, New York.

Despite this devastation, a well-funded Crisis Response Team (CRT) with a nearly $1 million budget and hundreds of trained volunteers sat idle for days.

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The team, created in 1992 to provide on-the-ground support during fires, crimes, and other emergencies, is considered one of the best-equipped crisis groups in the nation. Yet, volunteers received no activation orders, even as the fires raged.

According to The Post, Mayor Bass’s office only mobilized the CRT on Tuesday, a full week after the fires started—and notably after inquiries from the media began.

“I’m stunned by this,” a longtime CRT volunteer told The Post, expressing disbelief over the lack of response. Former CRT director Joseph Avalos, who led the team for 13 years before being dismissed by Bass last May, echoed these concerns.

“I got calls from current members saying they’re still on standby,” Avalos said. “Quite honestly, I don’t understand why.”

Emails obtained by The Post revealed that volunteers were told their services were not needed. Interim CRT director Edward Alamo informed volunteers via email that their deployment had not been requested.

Program manager Ané Vecchione reinforced this, stating, “At this time, we are not deploying to shelters or community resource centers.” Both Alamo and Vecchione declined to comment.

Adding to the confusion, CRT members continued receiving notifications for smaller incidents, such as traffic accidents, but were not called to assist wildfire victims. This lack of a large-scale callout baffled emergency management experts.

Former LAFD Battalion Chief Rick Crawford remarked, “The mayor doesn’t have to wait for a request; she has the authority to deploy them at her discretion.”

The CRT operates under the mayor’s office of public safety, which has faced its own turmoil. Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Brian Williams, who oversaw the CRT, was placed on administrative leave in December following an FBI raid over a bomb threat.

The CRT has since been without a permanent director, leaving volunteers and operations in limbo.

A Bass spokesperson claimed the CRT is now active at a disaster recovery center but did not clarify why it took so long to mobilize. “We are grateful that they answered our call to serve,” the spokesperson stated, offering little explanation for the initial inaction.

Mayor Bass’s inability to promptly deploy a team explicitly designed for disasters underscores a pattern of failed leadership. While her office scrambles for damage control, Angelenos are left questioning why a nearly million-dollar program sat dormant during a crisis.

The Palisades Fire is yet another example of misplaced priorities and bureaucratic inertia under Bass’s administration.