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.