Bass' trip to Ghana has garnered criticism, given the fact that weather officials had warned about dangerous wind and fire conditions before the blaze erupted. An LA Times-UC Berkeley poll shows that 41% of residents in LA described Bass' response to the firestorm as poor or very poor.

Mayor Karen Bass' texts illustrate how she communicated remotely with her staff and across levels of government, trying to marshal federal resources as the conflagration exploded. They also show an Angeleno desperate to get home.