as wildfire spreads Across Southern California this week, President-elect Donald Trump blamed state leaders and called for the resignation of California Governor Gavin Newsom in a series of Truth Social posts.
President Trump accused Newsom of prioritizing environmental policy over public safety and argued that FEMA lacks funding to respond to the crisis. CBS News Confirmed investigated some of the claims. Here’s what we know:
Newsom disputes Trump’s claims on water restoration declaration
President Trump has refused to sign a water restoration declaration that would have provided millions of gallons of water to areas currently on fire, saying Newsom prioritized a small fish called smelt over residents. he claimed.
In response, Newsom’s office said, “There is no such document as a Water Restoration Declaration and it is a complete work of fiction.”
Trump appeared to be referring to his administration’s 2019 proposal to divert water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta to farms in the Central Valley and urban areas in Southern California.
California officials and environmentalists successfully filed a lawsuit challenging the rule, in part because they argued it would endanger Delta wildlife, including smelt.
In December, President Biden’s administration worked with Newsom to approve new regulations that would allow more water to be pumped from the Delta to Southern California while protecting local wildlife.
Officials involved in overseeing Southern California’s water supply disputed Trump’s claims that his proposed changes could have reduced wildfires.
Mark Gold, director of water scarcity at the Natural Resources Defense Council and a member of the Metropolitan Water District Board, which provides water to 19 million people in Southern California, told CBS News, It has nothing to do with the amount of water we have.” Within this region, the Metropolitan Water District currently has a record amount of water in storage. ”
Gold said Southern California has an adequate water supply due to decent rain in the past few years, but lack of rain in the region in recent months has dried out vegetation, which President Trump The proposal would not have been able to resolve the issue.
“What happened has nothing to do with protecting the Bay Delta or managing the water there,” Gold said.
President Trump: “There’s no water in the fire hydrants”
President Trump referred to “no water in the fire hydrants” in multiple social media posts this week.
Los Angeles officials came under intense criticism after some fire hydrants in parts of the Pacific Palisades ran dry overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.
Janice Quiñones, chief executive officer and chief engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said at a news conference Wednesday that all three 1 million-gallon water tanks in the area had run dry by 3 a.m., and fire hydrants were running dry. He said the water pressure had dropped. elevation.
Quiñones said the tanks that provide pressure to fire hydrants in the hilly Palisades could not be refilled quickly enough because firefighting efforts drained them faster than the main mains could supply them. Ta.
Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Eric Scott said LADWP aggressively filled all available water storage tanks before the fire broke out. This followed claims widely shared on social media that authorities either refused to fill the tanks or failed to do so.
Mark Pastorella, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works, said municipal water systems in the affected areas were overburdened, in part because high winds and poor visibility prevented firefighters from using air support. He said there was.
“The city water systems that serve our homes and businesses continue to function effectively. However, they are not designed to fight wildfires. We all know that fighting fires by pumping water over the area is unsustainable,” Pastorella said.
Newsom said in a statement that he is calling for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to local fire hydrants and “reported unavailability of water supply from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.”
The Santa Ynez Reservoir, a 117 million-gallon water resource near the Pacific Palisades, was taken out of service for repairs after a fire broke out near Los Angeles this week, the Los Angeles Times reported.
President Trump claims “FEMA has no money”
President Trump also criticized President Biden in a social media post, claiming that the current administration is “not giving FEMA money” to President Biden.
FEMA’s disaster relief fund was in steep decline last October in the wake of Hurricane Helen and a series of other catastrophes, but Biden signed a bill in December that added $29 billion to the fund.
The agency told CNN on Wednesday that about $27 billion remains in the disaster relief fund. CBS News has reached out to confirm the current balance.
The White House said in a statement that FEMA approved the Fire Management Assistance Grant. Compensate California for firefighting costs.
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