As fires rage across Los Angeles and tens of thousands flee their homes, the usual suspects have decided to blame the fires on their political enemies. In a series of posts on Social Truth, President-elect Donald Trump claimed that firefighters’ inability to contain the fires was due to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s water policies, including an effort to “protect a fish fundamentally worthless called smelt, giving there is less water (it did not work!). Meanwhile, at X, Elon Musk suggested the fires were spreading because of the city’s fire chief’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion policies. “DEI stands for People Die,” Musk wrote in a post Wednesday night.
Five people have actually died in the Eaton fire so far, and more than 130,000 Los Angeles County residents are under evacuation orders, according to Los Angeles Times. But the rampant wildfires are not due to delta melting, DEI, or even—as Trump, Musk, and many mainstream publications have falsely claimed—budget cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department. These claims are not without consequences. Last year, FEMA employees received threats on TikTok and other social media platforms as rampant misinformation spread in the wake of the devastation caused by Hurricanes Milton and Helene.
The first wave of misinformation focused on fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades that suddenly ran out of water Tuesday night as firefighters struggled to extinguish the initial fire. Hydrants, Trump said, were running dry because of Newsom’s water policies. “I will demand that this incompetent governor allows the beautiful, clean, fresh water to flow to CALIFORNIA!” Trump posted on Social Truth on Wednesday. “He is to blame for this. Above all, there is no water for fire hydrants, nor fire planes. A real disaster!” In a separate tweet, Trump claimed that Newsom “had refused to sign the water restoration declaration presented to him, which would allow millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snowmelt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including areas that are currently burning in a practically apocalyptic manner.”
Newsom’s office responded Wednesday, clarifying that the statement Trump was referring to in his post did not exist. “There is no such thing as a water restoration statement — this is pure fiction,” said Newsom communications director Izzy Gardon. CalMatters. “The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”
Mark Gold, a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, told the newspaper that statewide water management policies, including efforts to protect the delta melt, had nothing to do with the lack of water at the hydrants. “Linking Bay-Delta management to devastating wildfires that have claimed lives and homes is nothing short of irresponsible and is happening at a time when the Metropolitan Water District has the most water conserved in its system in the agency’s history.” ,” Gold. said. “It’s not a question of having enough water coming from Northern California to put out a fire. It is about the continuing destructive impacts of a changing climate.”
The lack of water at Pacific Palisades hydrants was due to a reduction in water pressure caused by increased demand. LA Times reported. Janisse Quiñones, chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told the newspaper that so much water was being used that the company was unable to fill the reservoirs fast enough. According to LA Times.
Wednesday night, as powerful Santa Ana winds spread wildfires in Altadena, Pasadena and the Hollywood Hills, right-wing influencers accused city officials of slashing the fire department’s budget and prioritizing diversity programs over sound public policy. fire prevention — which Musk reposted on X.
But how POLITICAL noted Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass did not cut $23 million from the fire department’s budget, a claim that has been echoed by critics on both the right and the left, some of whom said Bass cut fire department funding to paid for a new one. police contract. The fire department’s budget actually increased by more than $50 million over the past year, according to POLITICALthough others have noted that LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley criticized Bass’ decision to cut $7 million from the department’s overtime budget just weeks before the Palisades fire. “The reduction … has severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare, train and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires,” Crowley wrote in a Dec. 4 memo.
That nuance, of course, is being lost on X, where influencers have also begun posting AI-generated images of looters descending on the Palisades and the Hollywood sign engulfed in flames. Misinformation is being spread like… you can probably guess what.
