Former mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt said Sunday that Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is to blame for the warehouse fire in Los Angeles’ Boyle Heights neighborhood, which began Wednesday and remains active.
Pratt likened Bass’s handling of the blaze to her response to the Palisades Fire in January 2025, a talking point the reality TV star used to fuel his failed independent campaign by blaming Bass for burning down his house.
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“Karen was sipping cocktails in Chicago when the Boyle Heights fire erupted,” Pratt claimed, “just as she was sipping cocktails in Ghana when our Palisades Fire erupted,” referring to criticism Bass faced for being in Ghana when the fires erupted in Los Angeles.
The fire broke out at a frozen food warehouse on Wednesday in the neighborhood east of downtown Los Angeles, prompting local officials to issue an eventually lifted shelter-in-place order. Bass issued a local emergency declaration Saturday afternoon, while Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) declared a state of emergency Sunday morning.
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Jaime Moore said Sunday the fire should be put out by week’s end if “progress continues at this rate,” according to the Los Angeles Times. “Officials warned of ‘very unhealthy’ air across wide stretches of LA County” as emergency responders cut into steel walls and deployed helicopters in the fight to extinguish the fire.
Local residents reported burning throats and smoke that smells “like chemicals and plastic,” and the fire department said in its initial statement Saturday that “the smell of smoke has reached most of the city.”
Pratt commented on the danger of the fumes, saying the spoiled food is less dangerous than the solar panels on the warehouse’s roof that “are spewing out deadly heavy metals that all of you are breathing in.” Pratt also said the same warehouse had a fire two years ago, and that “Karen Basura” slashed the fire department’s budget, tying that decision to the current predicament.
THE FALLOUT IN LA FROM SPENCER PRATT’S FALL
Pratt rose to prominence by attacking Bass for her handling of the Palisades Fire and deploying AI-generated advertisements, but he ultimately lost to Councilwoman Nithya Raman in a runoff election.
Raman will face Bass in the general election on Nov. 3.
