Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was attending a cocktail party in Ghana when the deadly Pacific Palisades wildfire first erupted, according to LA Times. In the newly unearthed photos, the 71-year-old was seen alongside foreign nationals at the US ambassador’s home in Accra.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday deflected questions about her controversial overseas trip to Ghana as newly unearthed photos show her at a cocktail party in the African country when the first fire in the region began to spread.

When the Palisades Fire broke out on Jan. 7, Caleb Serban-Lawler could see it from his apartment in downtown Los Angeles. Serban-Lawler jumped in his car and raced toward the flames to help with evacuations.

Raw footage of the rescue shows the man driving through smoke, fire, and flying embers to get the pets and their owner to safety

A video shared by Caleb Serban-Lawler shows him helping to rescue a woman and her four dogs while he was attempting to escape the Palisades Fire last week.