President-elect Donald Trump is preparing to use executive action to force California to funnel more water to the southern part of the state, after a water shortage helped fuel devastating fires in Los Angeles.

The city is enduring a third day of intense and destructive wildfires fanned by high winds and worsened by the state’s fire mitigation and water distribution policies.

Mr. Trump, who takes office Jan. 20, said he plans to do something about it immediately, suggesting he would reimplement his first administration’s water distribution plan for the state’s federally operated Central Valley Project.

“We are going to get that done, it’s going to finally be done,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday following a closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans. “I got it done from the federal side but he didn’t want to sign it. But it’s not going to happen like that again.”

A top Trump ally, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, said on Fox News he’s working with incoming White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller “about an executive order for the water in California.”

Mr. Trump made his pledge to take action in California as fires raged in the hills outside of Los Angeles.

City officials denied claims that the water supply had dried up in neighborhoods now reduced to ashes and where fire hydrants were empty.

Hydrants used in the hills of heavily burned Pacific Palisades, they said, had depleted three, million-gallon water tanks that could not be refilled quickly enough to keep up with the demand as firefighters battled the rapidly spreading blaze.

Mr. Trump blamed the out-of-control fires on state officials and in particular Gov. Gavin Newsom, attacking the Democrat and likely 2028 presidential hopeful for a second day.

“Governor Gavin Newscum [sic] should immediately go to Northern California and open up the water main, and let the water flow into his dry, starving, burning State, instead of having it go out into the Pacific Ocean,” Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social. “It ought to be done right now, NO MORE EXCUSES FROM THIS INCOMPETENT GOVERNOR. IT’S ALREADY FAR TOO LATE!”

Five years ago, Mr. Newsom rejected the first Trump administration’s plan that called for funneling more water from the northern part of the state to California’s farms and to communities in southern California. Mr. Newsom took the Trump administration to court over the plan due to concerns that diverting the water would wipe out the state’s dwindling Chinook salmon population and the largely extinct Delta smelt.

Mr. Trump is now poised to re-insert his administration into the state’s years-long battle over control and distribution of California’s limited water resources.

Mr. Trump has promised farmers he’d work to steer more water to agriculture and touted his first administration’s proposal that would have provided more water both to the farmers and cities in southern California.

Half of the state’s water now runs into the Pacific for environmental reasons, including protection of the salmon and the smelt.

“We have water, it just doesn’t get distributed that well,” said Steven Greenhut, a water policy expert at the think tank R Street.

Mr. Greenhut said Mr. Trump could step in to increase water flow from the federally run Central Valley Project to the southern part of the state.

“I think there’d be at least some pressure for that,” Mr. Greenhut said. The new Trump administration could also push the state to approve direct water distribution paths, such as the proposed but disputed 45-mile water tunnel project now tied up in the state’s bureaucracy.

The federal government, he said, could also help speed up aggressive forest management such as controlled burns, thinning of vegetation and tree removal that experts believe would help curb the state’s intense wildfires. Nearly half of the state’s land is owned by federal agencies. Fire mitigation in forests requires several layers of approval and is often challenged by lawsuits.

As of Thursday, California’s wildfires continued to rage out of control, burning to the ground entire neighborhoods, businesses and many celebrity homes. Estimates of economic losses topped $50 billion as finger-pointing at state and local officials intensified.

Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat who was once under consideration to become Mr. Biden’s running mate, denied that the $17 million in budget cuts to the L.A. fire department she imposed had impacted the wildfire response. Fire Chief Kristin M. Crowley, who said promoting diversity was a top department goal, blamed “call volume” for the decision to postpone fire hydrant testing that had been scheduled for January.

“I don’t think it negatively impacted our abilities in this specific area,” she said.

Mr. Newsom is under fire for failing to implement fully the state’s forest management plan, including controlled burns and failing to direct enough state money to fire prevention.

President Biden cancelled a planned trip to Italy and held a briefing on the federal response to the firefighters. He approved a major disaster declaration for California, paving the way for federal funds and resources. The Federal Emergency Management Agency also approved federal funds to reimburse California for firefighting costs.

“We are with you, we’re not going anywhere,” Mr. Biden said. 

• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.