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Los Angeles—Mayor Karen Bass's handling of the devastating Pacific Palisades fire continues to draw criticism, as new investigations and documents scrutinize decisions made before, during, and after the emergency.

A rumor has begun circulating on social media that Bass is close to resigning and has ordered dozens of firefighters to be withdrawn from the fire zone and sent to downtown Los Angeles to assist the homeless.

However, there is no public confirmation that the mayor is preparing to resign, nor is there verifiable evidence to support this specific claim about the firefighters being reassigned.

What is documented, however, is that the Los Angeles Fire Department did not deploy approximately 1,000 available personnel and dozens of units before the Pacific Palisades fire began, despite warnings about high winds and extreme conditions.

The city administration's handling of the fire response reports has also been questioned. Investigations by the Los Angeles Times revealed that internal versions of the report were altered to soften some of the department's shortcomings. Bass has denied personally ordering those changes.

The controversy intensified after Kristin Crowley, who led the LAFD during the fire and was later removed from her position, sued the city. In her lawsuit, Crowley accuses Bass of trying to shift the blame for the fire response failures onto her. The mayor and her administration have denied those allegations.

The Pacific Palisades fire left at least 12 people dead and destroyed thousands of homes and other structures. Federal investigators later determined that the deadly blaze was caused by the reignition of a fire that had started days earlier and had been considered extinguished.