Trump Criticizes Gov. Newsom’s Wildfire Management Amid Devastating California Fires

[Social Media]

 

President-elect Donald Trump has once again criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom for his handling of the state's wildfire prevention efforts, following the deadly Palisades fire currently ravaging Los Angeles. Trump, during his first term, had repeatedly warned Newsom about what he deemed "terrible" forest management, holding him accountable for the recurring wildfires in California.

 

In a 2019 post on X, Trump declared, “The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must ‘clean’ his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers.” He continued, “Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing—and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor. You don’t see close to the level of burn in other states.”

 

Trump’s criticism intensified during the Kincade Fire in Sonoma County in late 2019 and has resurfaced ahead of his impending inauguration. On Truth Social, he blamed Newsom’s environmental policies for the Los Angeles County fires, accusing the governor of neglecting necessary water management. “Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him... 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 the blame for this,” Trump wrote.

 

Responding to Trump’s accusations, Izzy Gardon, Newsom’s director of communications, told Fox Digital, “We’re focused on protecting lives and battling these blazes—not playing politics.” Gardon refuted Trump’s claims, stating, “There is no such document as the water restoration declaration—that is pure fiction. The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”

 

Throughout his first presidency, Trump frequently scrutinized Newsom's wildfire prevention strategies, even threatening in 2019 to cut off federal funds unless significant reforms were made. “Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together...I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!” he warned on X.

 

Assemblyman James Gallagher echoed Trump’s sentiments in 2020, blaming the Democratic leadership for failing to manage the state's forests effectively. “We have overgrown forests with brush piles 10 feet high and dead and dying trees, and it’s a tinderbox waiting for a spark,” Gallagher said on Fox News.

 

Governor Newsom had pledged to reform California's wildfire prevention approach in 2019, but a 2021 NPR investigation revealed that he overstated the achievements. “Newsom has claimed that 35 ‘priority projects’...resulted in fire prevention work on 90,000 acres. But the state’s own data show the actual number is 11,399,” reported Scott Rodd.

 

In response to the investigation, Newsom’s office maintained that the state’s wildfire response had not diminished. The Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan has reportedly achieved or begun working on all 99 of its key actions, with the state hiring 3,000 additional firefighters since 2019. Newsom emphasized the state’s commitment on X, stating, “California has deployed 1400% firefighting personnel & hundreds of prepositioned assets to combat these unprecedented fires in LA.”

 

Based on a report by NYP 2024-01-10

 

 

[gargamon]

Another poor attempt by Trump to mask the real reason: climate change.

[Tug]

Now that’s funny Trump holding someone (accountable)….. guess we all forgot to rake the forest (floors) ah well what did you expect something constructive?naa just more bile division and rancor it’s what he does 

[fondue zoo]

Is this one of those things that keeps getting kicked down the road by each state administration?

Are their forests mismanaged?

 

 

[Cryingdick]

Looks like the problem is fixing itself. 

[dinsdale]

2 hours ago, gargamon said:

Another poor attempt by Trump to mask the real reason: climate change.

So it's not poor fuel load management and preparedness then? If these fires are not deemed to be deliberately lit I will be surprised. 

[Woke to Sounds]

This is the kind of thing that happens with extreme leftists in charge. Common sense out the window.

 

Controlled burns contribute to climate change you see.

 

At least the govt will fix climate change with carbon taxes.

[sqwakvfr]

2 hours ago, gargamon said:

Another poor attempt by Trump to mask the real reason: climate change.

As a long time resident of CA it is more than just climate change. The city and county Los Angeles along with the leadership in Sancramento have made decision that did not help in fighting these massive fires.  For instance where is the clearing of the fuel in he Santa Monica mountains? Pacific Palisades (a very wealthy and mostly Democratic part of LA) is essentially gone.  Firefighters reported many times the fire hydrants were dry and the ones with water had low pressure.  Was this caused by climate change?  The next major problem will be insurance claims.  Many insurance companies pulled out of CA because the leaders in Sacramento put price caps on insurance premiums in high risk areas.  In the end federal government will have to bail out CA to rebuild.  Lastlly I am not a Trump supporter and did not vote for him. 

 

This event might have consequences for the next mayoral election for Los Angeles because Karen Bass did not look good while she hustled back from Ghana to lead her city because she was attending the inauguration of the Ghanian president. Unless she has a personal connection to Ghana then why she was there? 

 

Also, the California National Guard was just called for.  This should have done within the first few hours. This delay is not on Biden or Trump. This delay is on Gavin Newsom.  After all as the Governor he is the Commander in Chief of the California Air and Army National Guard. Army National Guard aviation units  are equipped for fire fighting.  

 

Before I get accussed of making up the hydrant issue:

 

 

[dinsdale]

I've posted this elsewhere and it's still a thought I have. Could this actually be a terrorist attack? Something IMO I think shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. If anyone thinks 100% this is nonsense please explain why don't just respond with a laughing/confused emoji.

p.s. New fire has just broken out in the west hills. 6:30 Thai time 15:30 CA time.

[sqwakvfr]

The latest bit I just heard from the LA City Fire Chief was that the DWP (Department of Water and Power) is responsible for the hydrants.  Ok, deflect.  For many who are not familiarl with Los Angeles the DWP is a city agency that provides water and electricity.  The DWP has a questionnalbe history.  The current DWP CEO is paid $750,000 per year + benefits.  Just amazing.  I would recommend that Joe Biden bail out California before Jan 19. 

[Gsxrnz]

When Mother Nature disregards one's green non-interventionist ideology, it's a real beach. 

[Cryingdick]

Next comes the rain and the mudslides. Those good old atmospheric rivers.

[gargamon]

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

So it's not poor fuel load management and preparedness then? If these fires are not deemed to be deliberately lit I will be surprised. 

Nobody can prepare for 5 or 6 simultaneous large fires in 80mph winds, especially when you cannot drop water/fire retardant from the air.

[newbee2022]

1 hour ago, Woke to Sounds of Horking said:

This is the kind of thing that happens with extreme leftists in charge. Common sense out the window.

 

Controlled burns contribute to climate change you see.

 

At least the govt will fix climate change with carbon taxes.

There are many roads lead to Rome. And I doubt it has to do with "lefties" but incompetence.

 

 

[Woke to Sounds]

7 minutes ago, newbee2022 said:

There are many roads lead to Rome. And I doubt it has to do with "lefties" but incompetence.

 

Mr Newsom is a W-E-F Young Global Leader, along with Canada's Trudeau, NZ's Ardern, France's Macron and a fellow named Eric Feigl-Ding, who was a Twitter advocate for "zero covid."  Ask working class Chinese what they thought of that bit of fantastic lunacy.

 

Increased taxes (carbon taxes) will solve climate change. That is the mantra going forward unless there is policy change.

 

Cheeers budddy

[Dcheech]

What I learned in aseanNow today.

Their are Forests in Los Angeles neighborhoods and they mismanaged by liberals  

[Eric Loh]

Fire hydrants buckled and over stressed under the high demand of this monstrous fire. We can count on the right and their dear leader to politizised and try score political points while this human tragedy is unfolding. Shameless bunch. 

 

https://www.wdsu.com/article/fire-hydrants-ran-dry-southern-california-when-needed-most/63385086#:~:text=hand on it."-,The water system used to fight the Palisades fire in,aircraft for hours early Wednesday.

 

 

[novacova]

6 hours ago, gargamon said:

Another poor attempt by Trump to mask the real reason: climate change.

Climate is in perpetual change, has been for eons and fires have been blowing through that area for thousands of years. The human catastrophe was caused by developments placed in hazard areas. Though it’s understandable for those who are shortsighted are unable to recognize this.

[sqwakvfr]

48 minutes ago, Eric Loh said:

Fire hydrants buckled and over stressed under the high demand of this monstrous fire. We can count on the right and their dear leader to politizised and try score political points while this human tragedy is unfolding. Shameless bunch. 

 

https://www.wdsu.com/article/fire-hydrants-ran-dry-southern-california-when-needed-most/63385086#:~:text=hand on it."-,The water system used to fight the Palisades fire in,aircraft for hours early Wednesday.

 

 

So a TV station in New Orleans is reporting about fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades CA?  I been have up down the streets of Pac Pal for years.  If the hyrdants buckled then they run dry?  Did not know that? 

[Eric Loh]

19 minutes ago, sqwakvfr said:

So a TV station in New Orleans is reporting about fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades CA?  I been have up down the streets of Pac Pal for years.  If the hyrdants buckled then they run dry?  Did not know that? 

Janisse Qunones, CEO of the LA Department of Water and Power said the same thing. It is also common sense that this huge fire need huge volume of water. Further the system was never equipped to deal with this sort of abnormal climate change-fueled fires in urban area. Global warming has exacerbated unusual and extreme rain and drought in California that has resulted in dangerous conditions for fires. What happen in California can happen in other states whether blue or red. Playing politics and spreading misinformation are not solutions. 

[spidermike007]

This is the man who literally does not have a compassionate bone in his body, he is so terribly unfit to be a leader, instead of expressing sympathy, and condolences he spews venom and hatred at the most inopportune and awkward moment.

 

This man is such a incredibly sad version of a human being. Such a dark and hate filled soul. 

 

Los Angeles did cut 16 million from their fire department budget earlier this year which was dumber than dumb but it's going to be a while until we can really sort out real blame. The governor did not make that choice.

 

The reality is that no amount of water and no amount of resources could have battled this blaze, with 1400 firemen and multiple helicopters dropping fire retardant the fire was 0% contained last time I looked. You can't battle nature when you're talking 60 or 70 mile an hour winds. 

 

The real culprit was Mother Nature, the rainy season usually starts mid-october and they barely had a drop in the last 3 months. 

 

 

[G_Money]

Darn it!  Cell service stopped just as the Governor was on the hotline to the President.

 

 

[Callmeishmael]

My grandparents' home in the hills above LA (Lytle Creek Canyon) was burned during a wildfire back in the 1950s.  They were already quite old, so they didn't rebuild it and just moved in with one of my uncles in Santa Barbara.  Fires are nothing new, that area has been known to be prone to fires since the Spanish first moved in back in the 1700s. 

 

The native Californians were semi-nomadic and would burn their homes every few years and move to a new location.  This kept the underbrush from building up too much so the fires were not as serious as they are now.  This practice works fine... as long as you are willing to burn down your grass hut and move every few years!  Nowadays, few people live in grass huts and even fewer would be willing to burn them down and move!

[dinsdale]

4 hours ago, gargamon said:

Nobody can prepare for 5 or 6 simultaneous large fires in 80mph winds, especially when you cannot drop water/fire retardant from the air.

Yes it can be prepared for. Fuel load mitigation is one way. Having water sources ready another. Sure having the air drop resource not available is a big hit but it sure seems that planning for this eventuality was not great. Santa Ana winds occur this time of year and it's been very dry. Big red flag. The current mayor will not be the next mayor and the DEI fire chief will also be gone. 

[sqwakvfr]

1 hour ago, Eric Loh said:

Janisse Qunones, CEO of the LA Department of Water and Power said the same thing. It is also common sense that this huge fire need huge volume of water. Further the system was never equipped to deal with this sort of abnormal climate change-fueled fires in urban area. Global warming has exacerbated unusual and extreme rain and drought in California that has resulted in dangerous conditions for fires. What happen in California can happen in other states whether blue or red. Playing politics and spreading misinformation are not solutions. 

If he knew then what was the contingency plan??? For $750,000 per year he should have had a contingency plan? 

[sqwakvfr]

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

Yes it can be prepared for. Fuel load mitigation is one way. Having water sources ready another. Sure having the air drop resource not available is a big hit but it sure seems that planning for this eventuality was not great. Santa Ana winds occur this time of year and it's been very dry. Big red flag. The current mayor will not be the next mayor and the DEI fire chief will also be gone. 

55 years in So Cal and the Santa Ana's have been part of life every year. The difference this time was the wind speeds were almost 100 mph. In the past I believe the fastest speeds were between 30 and 40. 

[John Drake]

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

Yes it can be prepared for. Fuel load mitigation is one way. Having water sources ready another. Sure having the air drop resource not available is a big hit but it sure seems that planning for this eventuality was not great. Santa Ana winds occur this time of year and it's been very dry. Big red flag. The current mayor will not be the next mayor and the DEI fire chief will also be gone. 

 

The National Weather Service issued a fire alert/warning for LA a week before the fires. What preparations came of it? Why did the mayor check out and head for Ghana?  

 

[sqwakvfr]

1 hour ago, spidermike007 said:

This is the man who literally does not have a compassionate bone in his body, he is so terribly unfit to be a leader, instead of expressing sympathy, and condolences he spews venom and hatred at the most inopportune and awkward moment.

 

This man is such a incredibly sad version of a human being. Such a dark and hate filled soul. 

 

Los Angeles did cut 16 million from their fire department budget earlier this year which was dumber than dumb but it's going to be a while until we can really sort out real blame. The governor did not make that choice.

 

The reality is that no amount of water and no amount of resources could have battled this blaze, with 1400 firemen and multiple helicopters dropping fire retardant the fire was 0% contained last time I looked. You can't battle nature when you're talking 60 or 70 mile an hour winds. 

 

The real culprit was Mother Nature, the rainy season usually starts mid-october and they barely had a drop in the last 3 months. 

 

 

I dont disagree about Trump.  But the number of firefighers initally were inadequate.  Some CA Army National Guard units have been trained to battle wildfires.  They have been just been activated.  By the time the Guard is able to deploy it will be next week.  The National Guard does not have QRF's (Quick Reaction Forces).  All guardsman have civilian jobs and need time to mount up and deploy. Also, to mitigate the risk some of the fuel should have been cutdown.  I realize some of the land is under the control of the federal government but a lot is under control of the state and in some cases the county.  This boils down to state and local leaderhip.  Where was the planing for a castastrophic fire event like this?  The same kind of  leaders failed to plan and respond to the 1992 LA Riots( I worked it for 15 days straight) and it was a "Charlie Foxtrot"  It was a little better in 1994 when the earthquake hit but not much happened until the Fed's came in.  Yes Trump is a disaster and so are many of Caflifornia's elected leaders. 

[Tug]

1 hour ago, dinsdale said:

Yes it can be prepared for. Fuel load mitigation is one way. Having water sources ready another. Sure having the air drop resource not available is a big hit but it sure seems that planning for this eventuality was not great. Santa Ana winds occur this time of year and it's been very dry. Big red flag. The current mayor will not be the next mayor and the DEI fire chief will also be gone. 

You obviously haven’t been close to a big fire I have 80 mph winds there’s f… all you can do,notice most of this is across an urban landscape good luck getting folks to build concrete igloos……all of that being said trumps nasty comments are a cheap shot and unwelcome in the face of this tragedy.

[dinsdale]

11 minutes ago, Tug said:

You obviously haven’t been close to a big fire I have 80 mph winds there’s f… all you can do,notice most of this is across an urban landscape good luck getting folks to build concrete igloos……all of that being said trumps nasty comments are a cheap shot and unwelcome in the face of this tragedy.

Your assumption is very much incorrect. I'm an Aussie. Bushfires are part of life as it is in CA.

Ash Wednesday, Adelaide, South Australia 1983.