Elon Musk and Donald Trump spread disinformation as wildfires rage in the LA area

As fires rage across Los Angeles and tens of thousands flee their homes, the usual suspects have decided to blame the blazes on their political enemies. In a series of posts on Truth Social, President-elect Donald Trump claimed firefighters’ inability to get the fires under control was due to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s water policies, including an effort to “protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!).” Meanwhile, on X, Elon Musk suggested that the fires were spreading due to the city fire chief’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. “DEI means people DIE,” Musk wrote in a Wednesday night post.

Five people have indeed died in the Eaton fire thus far, and upward of 130,000 Los Angeles County residents are under evacuation orders, according to the Los Angeles Times. But the rampant spread of the fires isn’t due to the delta smelt, DEI, or even — as Trump, Musk, and scores of mainstream publications have falsely claimed — cuts to the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget. These claims aren’t without consequence. Last year, FEMA workers received threats on TikTok and other social media platforms as rampant disinformation spread in the wake of the devastation caused by hurricanes Milton and Helene.

The first wave of disinformation focused on fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades, which abruptly ran out of water on Tuesday night as firefighters attempted to put out the initial blaze. The hydrants, Trump said, were running dry because of Newsom’s water policies. “I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA!” Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday. “He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!” In a separate post, Trump claimed Newsom had “refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way.”

Newsom’s office responded on Wednesday, clarifying that the declaration Trump referred to in his post didn’t exist. “There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction,” Newsom communications director Izzy Gardon told CalMatters. “The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”

Mark Gold, a board member of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, told the outlet that statewide water management policies, including efforts to protect the delta smelt, had nothing to do with the lack of water in the hydrants. “Tying Bay-Delta management into devastating wildfires that have cost people’s lives and homes is nothing short of irresponsible, and it’s happening at a time when the Metropolitan Water District has the most water stored in its system in the history of the agency,” Gold said. “It’s not a matter of having enough water coming from Northern California to put out a fire. It’s about the continued devastating impacts of a changing climate.”

The lack of water in the Pacific Palisades hydrants was instead due to a reduction in water pressure caused by increased demand, the LA Times reported. Janisse Quiñones, the chief executive and chief engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, told the paper that so much water was being used that the utility wasn’t able to fill the tanks quickly enough. The demand for water at lower elevations was also preventing the utility from refilling tanks at higher elevations, according to the LA Times.

Wednesday night, as powerful Santa Ana winds spread the fires to Altadena, Pasadena, and the Hollywood Hills, right-wing influencers accused city officials of slashing the fire department’s budget and prioritizing diversity programs over sound fire prevention policy — which Musk reposted on X.

But as Politico pointed out, Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass didn’t cut $23 million from the fire department’s budget, a claim that has been repeated by critics on both the right and the left, some of whom said Bass cut fire department funding to pay for a new police contract. The fire department’s budget actually increased by more than $50 million over the previous year, according to Politico, though others have noted that LA fire chief Kristin Crowley criticized Bass’ decision to cut $7 million from the department’s overtime budget just a few weeks before the Palisades fire. “The reduction … has severely limited the department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires,” Crowley wrote in a December 4th memo.

This nuance is, of course, being lost on X, where influencers have also begun posting AI-generated images of looters descending upon the Palisades and the Hollywood sign engulfed in flames. Disinformation is spreading like... you can probably guess what.