Right-wing media are falsely blaming the reports of low water pressure or dry hydrants in Los Angeles on state and local mismanagement – including suggesting that local authorities refused to fill the reservoirs – and conflating the hydrant issue with the false claim that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s water policies are to blame. On January 8, the Los Angeles Times reported that “as wildfires raged across Los Angeles on Tuesday, crews battling the Palisades blaze faced an additional burden: Scores of fire hydrants in Pacific Palisades had little to no water flowing out.” Later that day, President-elect Donald Trump in a post on Truth Social falsely claimed that Newsom had deprived Southern California of water in order to protect the smelt fish.LA officials say the insufficient water pressure in the Pacific Palisades hydrants was due to massively increased demand. It should certainly be examined, but by casting blame on something unrelated to score political points against a Democratic governor, right-wing media are misleading their viewers, avoiding discussing not only why the LA fires spread so quickly, but also what can be learned from this disaster in order to better prepare communities going forward.

Casting blame on environmental policies in an attempt to distract from increasingly deadly climate impacts is core to right-wing media’s extreme weather playbook

Right-wing media are falsely blaming the reports of low water pressure or dry hydrants in Los Angeles on state and local mismanagement – including suggesting that local authorities refused to fill the reservoirs – and conflating the hydrant issue with the false claim that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s water policies are to blame.

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  • LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net
    61·
    24 days ago

    According to the LA Times, “Before the fire, all 114 tanks that supply the city water infrastructure were completely filled,” but the firefighting efforts required four times the normal demand, for 15 hours, which reduced water pressure. Fact-checker Verify noted, “Fire hydrants used by firefighters ran out of water because of high water demand that is outpacing the speed at which water service officials can replenish the tanks,” and quoted water policy expert Jeff Mount, who said, “At no time during this fire has there been a shortage of water in southern California. Their reservoirs are full. And there is nothing to be done with water that would have changed the course of these fires.” [Los Angeles Times, 1/8/25; Verify, 1/8/25]

    My understanding was that a key reservoir was empty because it needed repairs, but they don’t mention this. Did they miss this detail or were earlier reports incorrect?