Former Rep. Kevin McCarthy claimed that, in 2019, then-President Donald Trump gave Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) plenty of advice for dealing with fires before he took office.

Over 30,000 Californians have evacuated and over 28,000 are without power as multiple wildfires spread across Southern California. The state has also experienced a wind storm in recent days, which helped spread the fire. Power lines also toppled during the wind storm.

The former California representative, whose father was a firefighter, called the fires “horrific” and “unbelievable.”

“President Trump and I flew out to California, spending time with Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and Gov. Jerry Brown,” McCarthy said Wednesday, recalling an occasion from 2018 while on Fox News’s The Ingraham Angle. “I watched President Trump tell them exactly what they need to do. So, Gavin Newsom knew, already being elected but not sworn in, what he should focus on. And he did not. He perpetuated this problem as we went forward.”

According to McCarthy, overgrown vegetation and water shortages are simple fixes for the California governor to keep fires from devastating residents’ livelihoods. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also cut $17.6 million from the emergency services budget, which directly compromised fire departments.

In September 2024, Trump was in California, where he gave further advice to Newsom while speaking to a crowd. He told the governor then, “You have so much water … and you could revert water up into the hills where you have all of the dead forests.”

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McCarthy predicted that Trump would sign an executive order surrounding California’s water sources as soon as he is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

The multiple California fires have spread through the Pacific Palisades area and into the Hollywood Hills.