A Los Angeles business owner has revealed he is the one behind a phone call recording with Karen Bass, just days before the infamous Palisades Fire last year.
John Alle said he called the Los Angeles mayor just three days before the deadly fire to warn her of the wind.
Bass is heard on the recording saying she hopes Alle is “safe,” as the eventual winds behind the devastating fire whipped up.
“I want to make sure that you are safe,” she said. “And, hopefully you can read in-between the lines.”
It’s unclear what Bass is referring to. Her office told Fox 11 that the call was about “law enforcement operations at Macarthur Park. But Alles says a central theme was the winds.
“I warned her of the winds. It was more than MacArthur Park — it was about L.A. and fire,” Alle said. He said he recorded the Jan. 4, 2025, call because he feared for his safety.
“I knew I couldn’t write that fast, so I recorded part of it for my own safety and for posterity,” Alle said.
The call resurfaces with the Los Angeles mayoral election weeks away. Republican Spencer Pratt and Democratic socialist Nithya Raman are the top competitors for her seat.
Bass’ campaign suggested the call’s characterization amounted to misinformation.
“The misinformation and conspiracies exploiting people’s loss in the Palisades is disgusting, and it’s a distraction from the recovery and rebuilding progress we’ve seen so far,” Alex Stack, a representative for Bass, told Fox 11.
Alle said he was just worried about a fire then. “I was worried about a fire in L.A. I had no idea my hometown would burn down,” he said.
Bass has faced criticism for being overseas in Ghana as it became apparent that a wildfire may erupt. The Palisades Fire devastated the Palisades community, killing several people and causing billions of dollars in damage.
In the call, she said that she would miss “two work days” due to the trip, and that when she is “able to talk” she would go into “great detail.”
Alle said there was no “conspiracy” surrounding the call’s weather theme, and that he lost so much due to the fire.
“I lost as much as anybody in terms of property and life,” he said. The California Post reached out to Bass’ office for comment.