CALIFORNIA FOCUS
FOR RELEASE: TUESDAY, JANUARY 28, 2025 OR THEREAFTER
BY THOMAS D. ELIAS
“POLITICAL VULTURES MOVE IN WHILE FIRES BURN”
Like vultures sensing fresh
carrion, some politicians began moving in with false information and
nonsensical claims even as the flames of California’s most damaging fire ever
still burned strongly in early January.
Yet, there were some
legitimate questions among the rhetorical flares.
The actual flames were so
forceful and fast-moving that not even his famous light saber could have helped
save the Malibu home of Luke Skywalker (aka “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill)
during the hurricane-strength winds driving the mega-firestorm that began in
the Pacific Palisades district of Los Angeles.
As multiple blazes erupted
and spread over an always fire-prone fifty-mile stretch of mountains and
foothills from Malibu to Altadena, burns also took the homes of celebrities
like actress Paris Hilton, actor-director Billy Crystal, actors James Woods, Mel
Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, plus Los Angeles Lakers Coach JJ Redick.
To hear President-elect
Donald Trump, this was all the fault of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and
outgoing President Biden.
“NO WATER IN THE FIRE
HYDRANTS, NO MONEY IN FEMA,” Trump vastly exaggerated on his Truth Social
service while fires raged and evacuees struggled to find housing.
Trump also blamed a supposed
state policy document he called the “water resources declaration” for depleting
water supplies to Pacific Palisades, causing low water pressure that hampered
firefighters’ efforts.
But there never was such a
document. Water mains supplying the Palisades fire area were already deemed too
small decades ago, long before Newsom or Biden’s time. Pressure in some
hillside fire hydrants fed by those mains dropped precipitously during the firestorm,
because so many hydrants were tapped at once. Los Angeles officials sent water
in by truck.
Yet, critics correctly noted
a 117-million-gallon reservoir in the area was shut down for maintenance. If
filled, that facility might have kept pressure up for a few more hours than it
lasted in affected hydrants. One retired water engineer noted that “it is a
guessing game when to take metal reservoirs out of service for maintenance.”
Larger mains were never
installed in the area because until now, there were no serious water pressure
problems. Generations of local politicians deemed such a project unnecessary.
Victims could find a logical
candidate for some blame in Sam Yorty, the late congressman and conservative
mayor of Los Angeles from 1961 to 1973. His appointees okayed the Palisades
Highlands development where the fires started Jan. 7. The obviously fire-prone
Highlands were designed and approved with only one road leading in and out.
The route became so jammed
while wind-driven flames chased escaping residents that many abandoned their
cars to flee on foot. Major delays followed as firefighters tried to deploy
equipment.
Past generations of
politicians and other officials – not Newsom or Biden – created these
conditions. Still, Newsom ordered an “unbiased” investigation of the reservoir
closure, also inviting Trump to visit disaster zones.
As often, facts did not faze
Trump, who previously blasted Newsom and predecessor Jerry Brown for allegedly
letting brush and forest areas become more fire prone. He tried to withhold
federal aid money as punishment. Yet, most lands he referenced belong to the
federal government, raising doubts about where blame should lie.
But there was also possibly
legitimate criticism. One example: developer Rick Caruso, a potential 2026
candidate for either governor or Los Angeles mayor who lost narrowly to current
Mayor Karen Bass in 2022, blasted her for reducing the city’s brush clearance
budget. Could more brush cutting have slowed this fire? With winds up to 99
mph, no one knows.
Others also blamed Bass. They
griped that as high-wind “red flag” fire warnings were issued two days before
flames broke out, she flew off to a political event in Ghana. No one has shown
events would have differed if she’d been home.
The critics’ failure to wait
until the fires died down before making their attacks gave them the look of
vultures seeking dead meat. Meanwhile, Bass was blasted by her own fire chief
for cutting the fire department budget, a move later partially reversed.
The big question for Trump,
Caruso and other critics: why did they pour all blame on present officials who
had to cope with many faulty decisions from decades ago?
-30-
Email
Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com. His book, "The Burzynski Breakthrough,
The Most Promising Cancer Treatment and the Government’s Campaign to Squelch
It," is now available in a soft cover fourth edition. For more Elias
columns, visit www.californiafocus.net
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