As California officers sought to tamp down false claims concerning the devastating wildfires, Gov. Gavin Newsom created “California Fire Facts,” a web page on his web site to counter what he known as “lies” concerning the California fires.
Among the many claims the governor sought to debunk have 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 “fact checks” and located that though many have been right, just a few of them omitted essential context. Right here’s what we all know.
CLAIM: Newsom says he didn’t lower California’s fireplace finances
Newsom known as studies by Fox Information and others that California lower its fireplace finances by $100 million within the months earlier than the hearth, “a ridiculous lie” — countering that Cal Hearth’s personnel and finances have nearly doubled since 2019.
Whereas it’s true Cal Hearth’s total finances 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 Hearth obtained $2.5 billion and had 7,182 personnel, in comparison with $4.2 billion and 12,511 personnel within the 2024-2025 finances, based on 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 finances initially lower $101 million, however the remaining finances lowered it by $144 million.
These reductions meant $12 million in cuts for “home hardening,” $6 million for Cal Hearth’s “forest data program,” and $5 million for prescribed fires, amongst many different objects.
However it’s unlikely many of the cuts would have prevented the L.A. fires, based on two wildfire consultants who spoke with CBS Information. They mentioned 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, mentioned, “There’s very little evidence that prescription burning would ever do anything to stop an event like what we saw this past week. We don’t have an unusual accumulation of fuels by and large. But more important than that, our worst fires occur during the Santa Ana wind conditions.”
Chris Subject, a local weather scientist at Stanford who has studied managed burns, agreed: “The L.A. fires reflect the combination of very strong winds and very dry fuels. It is not likely that fuel reduction would have helped.”
CLAIM: Newsom says California didn’t run out of water and reservoirs are at document 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 document ranges.
That’s largely true. State information 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 mentioned he’s launching an unbiased state investigation into the lack of water stress and unavailability of water from the Santa Ynez Reservoir.
And it’s additionally true that some hydrants within the Pacific Palisades space quickly ran dry amid intense demand as crews battled the Palisades Hearth.
All three 1-million-gallon water tanks within the space ran out of water by 3 a.m. on Jan. 8, lowering water stress for fireplace hydrants at increased elevations, officers mentioned.
Los Angeles Hearth Division Capt. Erik Scott mentioned officers crammed all accessible water storage tanks earlier than the fires started, however “extreme demand” precipitated the tanks to be refilled at a slower price.
Hearth officers acknowledged the city system was not set as much as battle this scale of wildfire, pulling from so many hydrants on the identical 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 mentioned Newsom “can release the water that comes from the north” to assist the state battle devastating wildfires, and recommended the federal authorities mustn’t “give California anything” till it modifications its water coverage.
“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let water flow down,” Mr. Trump mentioned.
Mr. Trump was repeating a declare he made after the fires broke out, alleging that Newsom had beforehand “refused to sign the water restoration declaration” to permit water from Northern California to stream 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 submit 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 because of considerations over endangered salmon and smelt.
However that isn’t the rationale the hearth hydrants close to Pacific Palisades ran dry. As beforehand famous, metropolis officers mentioned 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 couldn’t refill the tanks quick sufficient.
And consultants informed CBS Information extra water from one other a part of the state wouldn’t have made a distinction to the firefighting response.
“Plenty of water is flowing into Southern California,” mentioned Brent Haddad, an environmental research professor on the College of California. “The problem is that when city water infrastructure was built decades ago, planners didn’t anticipate the conditions brought on by global 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.
