President-elect Donald Trump and some social media users and pundits blamed Los Angeles’ deadly fires on California Governor Gavin Newsom, saying the Democrat’s environmental policies enabled the blazes’ danger and wreckage.As of January 12, authorities counted at least 16 people dead, more than 14,000 hectares (35,000 acres) burned and thousands of structures damaged or destroyed.
Some social media users reposted Trump’s 2018 and 2019 criticism of California’s forest management policies, including false statements the then-president posted as firefighters battled previous wildfires.
It is not uncommon for Trump to make false claims about his political opponents during natural disasters. In 2018, he falsely said “Democrats” had inflated Hurricane Maria’s death toll in Puerto Rico. In October 2024, he fabricated a claim that North Carolina’s Democratic governor had blocked federal aid from flowing into the state after Hurricane Helene.
As Los Angeles wildfire victims reeled from the destruction, we fact-checked these viral claims to see how, or if, California water policy and forest management factored this disaster. Advertisement
Trump misleads about California water policy
As Los Angeles firefighters raced to contain blazes in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood on January 7 and January 8, the area’s hydrant water pressure ran low, and some hydrants stopped producing water.
Trump, in a January 8 Truth Social post, blamed Newsom’s management for the water issues and said Newsom had refused to allow “beautiful, clean, fresh water to flow into California”.
“Governor Gavin [Newsom] 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 …
