The out-of-control fires ripping across Los Angeles cap years of criticism of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s water management and wildfire mitigation policies, which are set to face the wrath of the incoming Trump administration.
Mr. Newsom appeared alongside President Biden at an emergency briefing Wednesday in Santa Monica. He explained that firefighting equipment was pre-positioned in anticipation of the powerful Santa Ana winds spreading the fires. Two people were confirmed dead, and many others were injured in the disaster.
Multiple fires had burned through thousands of acres and destroyed more than 1,000 homes and businesses.
President-elect Donald Trump slammed Mr. Newsom, mentioned as a 2028 Democratic presidential contender, for failing to reduce the threat of wildfires by adequately increasing Southern California’s water supply and removing dead trees and undergrowth that scientists warned years ago had left the area prone to wildfires.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Mr. Trump said in a statement issued by his transition team.
Some firefighters working to extinguish the massive blaze in Pacific Palisades reported that hydrants had run dry. By Wednesday afternoon, the Palisades fire had spread to 12,000 acres and remained uncontrolled, extending to Malibu along the coast.
State officials told The Washington Times that the fire-affected areas had no water shortage. It’s unclear whether Mr. Trump’s water distribution plan would have made any difference or whether firefighters were simply at the mercy of infrastructure that struggled to rapidly refill the million-gallon water tanks feeding the hydrants.
Mr. Trump promised to “demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA!”
For years, Mr. Trump has been battling Mr. Newsom and other Democrats regarding California’s wildfire prevention, water and forest management.
He has threatened to withhold federal funding several times, including on the 2024 campaign trail, if the state does not take steps to reduce wildfire risks by allowing logging, forest thinning and controlled burns.
In recent years, California has received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal disaster aid for recovery and restoration from wildfires, including a significant amount from the first Trump administration. On Wednesday, Mr. Biden approved a major disaster declaration for California to pave the way for federal funds and resources. The Federal Emergency Management Agency approved federal funds to reimburse California for firefighting costs.
The second Trump administration may not be so generous.
Mr. Newsom ditched the Trump administration’s 2019 proposal to pump more water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta into two water delivery systems for Southern California.
Federal fisheries determined that the additional pumping would not harm endangered species.
Mr. Newsom instead signed off on a modified plan to protect Chinook salmon and the largely extinct Delta smelt.
On Wednesday, Mr. Trump called the smelt “a worthless fish” and said Mr. Newsom does not care about Californians.
California Policy Center co-founder Edward Ring said Mr. Trump has repeatedly complained that California’s unmanaged forests escalate the risk of devastating wildfires.
Mr. Ring said the dearth of logging, grazing and forest-thinning, often blocked by environmentalists’ lawsuits, has allowed California’s forest density to increase to about five times what it has been for the past 20 million years. The added density has turned the state’s forests into tinderboxes that can create intense wildfires, he wrote last year in City Journal.
“Excessive tree density is an objective fact. But instead of rewriting all these counterproductive regulations, our politicians and the special interests backing them bloviate about ‘climate change,’ while doing little or nothing that might actually help the forests,” Mr. Ring wrote.
Mr. Newsom deployed the National Guard on Wednesday and ordered 37,000 residents of Los Angeles County to evacuate. The Los Angeles Fire Department said two people were killed and a “high number” of people were injured.
Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon called Mr. Trump’s statement about the water management policy “pure fiction.” She said the governor “is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”
Mr. Newsom positioned dozens of fire trucks, bulldozers, water tenders, helicopters and other equipment earlier this week. He also implemented most of the state’s Wildlife and Forest Resilience Action Plan, which calls for using “prescribed fire” to improve forest health and biodiversity, among other actions such as recognizing the impact of climate change.
Mr. Biden, appearing alongside Mr. Newsom, told firefighters and other emergency management officials that his son Hunter Biden was notified Tuesday that his Pacific Palisades home “was probably burned to the ground.”
Mr. Biden then announced “the good news” about the birth of his first great-grandchild.
“I’ll remember this day for a lot of the wrong reasons,” Mr. Biden said.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.