California: Still Burning

 From the New York Post:

President-elect Donald Trump blamed California’s Gavin Newsom for the ‘apocalyptic’ wildfires ravaging the Pacific Palisades in Los Angeles — claiming he chose to save an extinct tiny fish species, instead of sending more water to southern California.

Trump raged that the Democratic governor blocked an order that would have diverted more water from the much wetter north to the state’s parched regions “including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.”

“He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt… but didn’t care about the people of California,” the incoming president ranted on his Truth Social Platform.

“Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is to blame for this. (Read more.)

 

From The Palladium:

Indigenous peoples like the Miwok, who traditionally inhabited lands like those of the Bohemia Ecological Preserve, understood the importance of fire too. They would burn the land to increase the acorn yield of tan oak, as the oaks’ acorns are spared from larval infestation if the ground is first cleared with a light burn that functions as a preservative. While Europeans practiced prescribed burns in the southeast of the continent, they suppressed the practice early on in California. In 1793, the Spanish governor of California described it as a form of “childishness” belonging to “both Christian and Gentile Indians in this country.” Not aware of the purpose of the practice, he enacted an edict that would “prohibit for the future… all kinds of burning, not only in the vicinity of the towns but even at the most remote distances…”

Later, when American settlers would go on to burn the land, it was usually to make room for farms. Professional forestry standards imported from Prussia put an end to that too, stressing that forests were a public resource whose value was proportional to their timber density.

But even in the early twentieth century, research demonstrated that “light burns” are the best way to prevent the overgrowth that contributes to the severity of conflagrations. It is now an accepted practice among the Forest Service and other agencies, but the damage has been done—most of California’s twenty most destructive wildfires on record have occurred in the last decade, owing largely to a century of absolute fire suppression. Even then, the amount of land that now burns in California is only large relative to those suppressed fires of the twentieth century. In prehistoric times, for example, it wasn’t uncommon for the total acreage burned to be double that of the 4.4 million acres burned in 2020. What has changed is that the intensity of the burns has grown worse, and the population density in fire-prone areas has grown. (Read more.)

 

From the Daily BS:

Hollywood actor James Woods broke down in tears during a Wednesday interview on CNN as he described losing his home in the destructive wildfires currently raging across the Pacific Palisades.

The wildfires spreading across Los Angeles County has left at least two people dead, and has forced tens of thousands of Californians to evacuate their homes, with many already not having a home to return to. Woods tearfully described how he helped his 94-year-old neighbor, who had been home alone with dementia, evacuate his home.

The 77-year-old actor believed his neighbor had been in the hospital until he called the elderly man’s son, who confirmed that his father had been released from the hospital the day before. Woods then called 911, leading first responders to enter the 94-year-old’s home and help him evacuate. An hour later, the house burned down. (Read more.)

 

From The Blaze:

By nightfall on Tuesday, though, another major problem had materialized: Firefighters were running out of water.

"The hydrants are down," one firefighter reported over the internal radio system, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"Water supply just dropped," said another. The Department of Water and Power admitted that water scarcity was an issue but said that crews were working in the affected areas "to ensure the availability of water supplies," a spokesperson said.

"This area is served by water tanks and close coordination is underway to continue supplying the area." The extent of the water shortage is unclear. Meanwhile, Mayor Bass, who warned L.A. residents about impending disasters associated with the winds, was on the other side of the world in Ghana to attend the inauguration of President John Dramani Mahama as part of an official U.S. delegation.

People on social media were outraged that Bass was in Africa while her city burns.

• "RESIGN! WHY ARE YOU IN GHANA?!" one user commented on one of Bass' X posts.
• "Hey Karen! How’s Ghana? LA you ask? Yeah it’s burning to the f***ing ground but it’s better you’re not here anyways because you’re useless," said another.
• "There’s no water, Karen," quipped another.

Bass, 71, is reportedly on her way back to L.A. on account of the fires.

Billionaire resident Rick Caruso, who competed against Bass in the Democratic mayoral primary in 2022, blamed Bass and other officials for the devastation caused perhaps by a lack of preparation and the policies that limit the water supply.

"We've had decades to remove the brush in these hills that spreads so quickly," Caruso told KTTV on Tuesday.

"You have to have water," he continued, "and my understanding is the reservoir was not refilled in time and in a timely manner to keep the hydrants going. So that's a failure, whether on DWP's part or another city agency, but this is basic stuff."

"It's all about leadership and management that we're seeing a failure of," he added, "and all of these residents are paying the ultimate price for that." (Read more.)

 

From The Daily Wire:

L.A. Fire Chief Kristin Crowley warned L.A. Mayor Karen Bass (D) last month that her budgets to the department were putting the city at serious risk for wildfires because the cuts limited the department’s ability to respond.

In a memo dated December 4, 2024, Crowley wrote that the nearly $18 million in cuts “severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.”

“Without this funding, pilot compliance and readiness are jeopardized, and aerial firefighting capabilities are diminished,” Crowley wrote in the memo that was presented last month to the Board of Fire Commissioners, a panel of mayoral appointees who oversee the management of the Department, according to a local NBC News affiliate.

Crowley said that the overtime hours funded “Heavy Equipment Operators (HEOs) who make fire control lines around wildland fires, manage firefighting robotics, wildland fire road maintenance, post-fire demolition services, and other allhazard emergency services.”

“Ultimately, loss of funding impairs the Department’s ability to mitigate wildland fires and other hazards effectively,” she wrote. (Read more.)

Also from The Daily Wire:

The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said on Thursday night that a new blaze that has erupted in the city is being treated as a suspected arson case.

The Kenneth Fire in West Hills quickly grew in just a couple of hours to 1,000 acres and is 0% contained as fire officials work to put out several other fires in the city.

LAPD Senior Lead Officer Charles Dinsel told reporters: “What we know right now is that the incident occurred, started here [Victory Trailhead], and about 20-30 minutes later, a suspect was detained over Woodland Hills area by citizens.”

When asked if someone “purposely set” the fire, he responded: “At this time, that’s what we believe, yes.” (Read more.)

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