Elias: Any blame for L.A. fires mainly belongs to bad choices decades ago
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 50-mile stretch of mountains and foothills from Malibu to Altadena, fire 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 tell it, 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. There never was such a document, though. 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 that 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 have been 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 Congressmember and conservative Los Angeles mayor from 1961 to 1973. His appointees approved 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. Trump 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.
There was also possibly legitimate criticism, though. One example: Developer Rick Caruso, a potential 2026 candidate for either California 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?
Email Thomas Elias at tdelias@aol.com, and read more of his columns online at californiafocus.net.