Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass may be staring down the imminent end of her political career amid sharp criticism of her handling of several devastating wildfires in and around the city over the past couple of weeks.

A petition calling for Mayor Bass to resign has garnered more than 150,000 signatures in just a matter of days, and that number will undoubtedly continue to climb in the coming days, according to local Fox affiliate KTTV.

The petition accused the mayor of "gross mismanagement" and a "failure to effectively respond" to the wildfires and further criticized her for "choosing to travel abroad" when it was known that L.A. faced grave risks from uncontrollable infernos.

Residents say it's time for Bass to go

A Change.org petition calling for Mayor Bass' "immediate resignation" has already reached nearly 157,000 signatures from L.A. residents and "concerned citizens" as of late Saturday afternoon.

"We, the undersigned residents of Los Angeles and concerned citizens, urgently call for the immediate recall of Mayor Karen Bass due to her gross mismanagement and failure to effectively respond to the devastating 2025 fires in and around the city of Los Angeles," the petition stated.

"In the wake of these catastrophic fires, our city has been left in crisis. Water supplies have been severely strained, billions of taxpayer dollars have been misallocated or left unaccounted for, and countless lives have been lost," it continued. "Families have been displaced, homes destroyed, and livelihoods shattered -- yet Mayor Bass has been absent from the frontlines, choosing to travel abroad while her constituents suffer."

"Despite the tireless efforts of our first responders, the city has been woefully unprepared to ensure the safety and well-being of its residents," the petition added. "Basic resources, such as water and emergency services, have been inadequate, and leadership has been nowhere to be found when it was needed most."

Demands made for resignation, investigation, and accountability

The petition went on to make a series of demands, the first of which involved the "immediate resignation of Mayor Karen Bass due to her failure to lead during this unprecedented crisis."

It also called for an investigation of the apparent "failures in disaster preparedness, response, and resource allocation that left our city vulnerable," as well as accountability for the "mismanagement of taxpayer funds intended for disaster relief and recovery," along with a "comprehensive plan" for dealing with future disasters.

"The people of Los Angeles deserve a leader who is present, accountable, and actively working to protect and serve our community. Mayor Bass's actions -- or lack thereof -- have shown she is unfit for the office she holds," the petition concluded. "We call on our fellow Angelenos and all concerned citizens to stand with us in holding Mayor Bass accountable. It is time for a change."

Sharply criticized over visit to Africa amid worsening wildfire threat

Although there are many complaints against Mayor Bass, one of the main points of criticism is that while it became increasingly obvious that L.A. was set to be negatively impacted by multiple wildfires earlier this month, she was in the African nation of Ghana for several days as part of a presidential delegation to attend the inauguration of that nation's new president.

According to a CBS News timeline of events, Bass left events in Ghana early to return to L.A., and was reportedly in constant contact with L.A. officials during the lengthy flight, but the damage was already done by the time she made it back to the city.

Perhaps even more galling to L.A. residents is the fact that, wildfires aside, the mayor's trip to Ghana represented a blatant violation of a key campaign promise made in 2021 when the then-congresswoman was running for the mayorship and vowed to not travel internationally if elected, according to Fox News.

In that 2021 interview, Bass promised that if elected as L.A.'s mayor, "not only would I of course live here, but I also would not travel internationally -- the only places I would go would be D.C., Sacramento, San Francisco, and New York, in relation to L.A." Yet, the trip to Africa joins prior trips to Mexico and France as multiple violations of that promise.