Do Newsom’s wildfire “reality checks” align with the info? A breakdown.
As California officers sought to tamp down false claims in regards to the devastating wildfires, Gov. Gavin Newsom created “California Fireplace Details,” a web page on his web site to counter what he known as “lies” in regards to the California fires.
Among the many claims the governor sought to debunk had been some associated to his administration of the state’s firefighting assets and forest administration. Most of the claims had been promoted by President Trump, who has criticized Newsom and visited California on Friday to survey wildfire harm in Los Angeles County.
CBS Information Confirmed checked the governor’s “reality checks” and located that though many had been right, a number of of them omitted essential context. This is what we all know.
CLAIM: Newsom says he didn’t lower California’s fireplace price range
Newsom known as studies by Fox Information and others that California lower its fireplace price range by $100 million within the months earlier than the fireplace, “a ridiculous lie” — countering that Cal Fireplace’s personnel and price range have virtually doubled since 2019.
Whereas it is true Cal Fireplace’s general price range has grown considerably since Newsom took workplace in 2019, he did approve cuts of over $100 million to wildfire-related funding initiatives final yr.
Within the 2018-2019 fiscal yr, Cal Fireplace obtained $2.5 billion and had 7,182 personnel, in comparison with $4.2 billion and 12,511 personnel within the 2024-2025 price range, in line with the state’s legislative analyst’s workplace. This represents a big improve.
Nonetheless, within the final fiscal yr, wildfire-related funding was lower by over $100 million. These cuts got here from reductions to a one-time surplus funding bundle for a number of state departments. A proposed price range initially lower $101 million, however the remaining price range lowered it by $144 million.
These reductions meant $12 million in cuts for “dwelling hardening,” $6 million for Cal Fireplace’s “forest knowledge program,” and $5 million for prescribed fires, amongst many different objects.
Nevertheless it’s unlikely a lot of the cuts would have prevented the L.A. fires, in line with two wildfire specialists who spoke with CBS Information. They stated extra efforts to do prescribed fires or clear brush in Southern California would possible not have stopped the wildfires within the L.A. space.
Jon Keeley, a senior scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey, stated, “There’s little or no proof that prescription burning would ever do something to cease an occasion like what we noticed this previous week. We do not have an uncommon accumulation of fuels by and enormous. However extra vital than that, our worst fires happen throughout the Santa Ana wind situations.”
Chris Subject, a local weather scientist at Stanford who has studied managed burns, agreed: “The L.A. fires mirror the mix of very robust winds and really dry fuels. It’s not possible that gas discount would have helped.”
CLAIM: Newsom says California didn’t run out of water and reservoirs are at report ranges
The governor known as claims that California ran out of water and that reservoirs are empty a “lie,” including that reservoirs in Southern California are at report ranges.
That is largely true. State knowledge present all however three of California’s main reservoirs are at or above historic common ranges.
Nonetheless, the 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir close to the Palisades fireplace was out of service when the fires started. Newsom stated he’s launching an unbiased state investigation into the lack of water stress and unavailability of water from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.
And it is also true that some hydrants within the Pacific Palisades space briefly ran dry amid intense demand as crews battled the Palisades Fireplace.
All three 1-million-gallon water tanks within the space ran out of water by 3 a.m. on Jan. 8, decreasing water stress for fireplace hydrants at increased elevations, officers stated.
Los Angeles Fireplace Division Capt. Erik Scott stated officers crammed all obtainable water storage tanks earlier than the fires started, however “excessive demand” prompted the tanks to be refilled at a slower price.
Fireplace officers acknowledged the city system was not set as much as struggle this scale of wildfire, pulling from so many hydrants on the similar time.
CLAIM: Newsom says California’s smelt fish coverage didn’t result in L.A.-area wildfires
In an interview with Fox Information host Sean Hannity on Wednesday, President Trump stated Newsom “can launch the water that comes from the north” to assist the state struggle devastating wildfires, and prompt the federal authorities mustn’t “give California something” till it adjustments its water coverage.
“I do not assume we must always give California something till they let water circulation down,” Mr. Trump stated.
Mr. Trump was repeating a declare he made after the fires broke out, alleging that Newsom had beforehand “refused to signal the water restoration declaration” to permit water from Northern California to circulation down into the Los Angeles space and claiming that state officers prioritized a small fish, known as a smelt, over residents.
The governor’s workplace responded to the publish on social media, saying there was no such declaration and suggesting that it was “outlandish” to make a connection between the smelt fish and wildfires.
Mr. Trump is right that California did block his plan throughout his first administration to redirect water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta right down to farms and cities additional south, after environmental teams opposed the plan on account of issues over endangered salmon and smelt.
However that isn’t the rationale the fireplace hydrants close to Pacific Palisades ran dry. As beforehand famous, metropolis officers stated three 1-million-gallon water tanks that feed the hydrants within the Palisades space ran out of water as a result of there was such excessive demand that they could not refill the tanks quick sufficient.
And specialists advised CBS Information extra water from one other a part of the state wouldn’t have made a distinction to the firefighting response.
“Loads of water is flowing into Southern California,” stated Brent Haddad, an environmental research professor on the College of California. “The issue is that when metropolis water infrastructure was constructed many years in the past, planners did not anticipate the situations introduced on by world warming.”
Mark Gold, a Metropolitan Water District of Southern California board member, famous Southern California has ample water provide however an absence of rain within the area dried out vegetation. Mixed with excessive winds, the wildfires unfold quickly.
