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Biden, Newsom, And LAFD Failures Fuel LA's Wildfire FIRE FOOD Chaos-Not Climate Change

Scapegoating the Climate to Hide Callous Government Malfeasance

by Paul Driessen, guest post Jan 20, 2025 in Extreme Weather, News and Opinion, Politics

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Paul Driessen is an environmentalist... a senior policy adviser for the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow.

If HE says Biden, Newsom, And LAFD fucked up the environment... believe it.

Wildfires near Los Angeles have left Pacific Palisades looking like Dresden after the WWII fire-bombings. Over 12,000 homes, schools, and businesses 
have been incinerated, dozens of people have died, at least 70,000 have been left homeless, and fires still rage. 

AccuWeather estimates that just two of the fires will destroy $135-150 billion in property!

It's a doubly horrific tragedy because most of the death and devastation could have been prevented.

California has 33,000,000 acres of federal, state, and private forestland - equivalent to Wisconsin. As the state's population expanded, forests and 
wildlife increasingly merged with human habitation.

And yet federal and state land managers - compelled by ideology, activists, legislators, and judges - have steadfastly refused to permit timber 
cutting, tree thinning, or brush (FIRE FOOD) removal, or take other actions that would reduce the likelihood of conflagrations.

So many trees are so jammed together that they're starved for space, water, nutrients, and sunlight. Many are diseased. They are skinny matchsticks, 
primed to erupt in flames.

Some 32,000,000 trees died just in 2022, across just 8% of these forestlands, but even they are rarely removed.

Rainy fall and winter months stimulate tree, brush, and grass growth. Parched summers dry everything out. Extended dry periods leave all this fuel 
ready to ignite for more months.

Lightning sparks from cars or power lines, campfires, and arsonists set areas aflame. Dry Santa Ana winds (40-70 mph, with gusts of 120-150 mph) whip 
fires into infernos. Depleted, defunded fire departments often arrive long after they could extinguish fires in their infancy.

The conflagrations generate still more powerful winds that carry embers, branches, and even small trees thousands of feet - often into communities 
that are ill-prepared to cope.

This barely begins the litany of California government failures that help cause repeated fire calamities. However, its politicians adroitly avoid 
responsibility.

Their most common excuse is man-made climate change. They even have a new fear-inducing term: hydro-climate whiplash!

Fossil-fuel-driven climate change supposedly brought two exceptionally wet winters, spurring unprecedented plant growth - and then caused 
unprecedented arid conditions and previously unheard-of Santa Ana winds that made these infernos unpredictable but inevitable.

Calling the massive, repeated government failures "incompetence" is too generous. Deliberate, callous, destructive malfeasance is more apt. Criminal 
may be appropriate.

Governor Gavin Newsom wants a special session to discuss spending $25-50 million to "Trump-proof" state policies.

He wants to use a new $10-billion "climate bond" to reduce farm and ranch emissions, improve "equitable access to nature," build more parks in 
"disadvantaged communities," upgrade ports to handle deepwater offshore wind projects, and more.

California is still pouring billions into EV subsidies, its "clean" energy transition, and the $100-billion "bullet train to nowhere."

It's spending more billions supporting "sanctuary" status for illegal immigrants, maintaining gender and DEI programs, and ministering to America's 
largest number of homeless people - which will now include 70,000+ who've lost everything to the 2025 wildfires.

Legislated restrictions on how companies may conduct fire-risk assessments and what rates they can charge for homeowners insurance in high fire-risk 
areas have caused insurers to leave the state or stop issuing new policies, leaving hundreds of thousands of families uninsured, under-insured or 
dependent on the state's FAIR Plan, which has only $385 million in reserves.

Meanwhile, they've devoted only $2.6 billion to "forest and wildfire resilience" across 33,000,000 acres - versus $14.7 billion for EVs and "clean 
renewable energy."

With nightmares from the horrific 2018 Paradise fire still fresh in many minds, Mayor Karen Bass cut $17.6 million from the Los Angeles Fire 
Department budget, fired 100 firefighters who didn't get Covid vaccines, and was partying at an embassy reception in Ghana as the fires erupted.

LA Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley (salary: $654,000) has spent millions on DEI programs and hiring more women, gays, and minorities.

Deputy/Diversity Chief Kristine Larson (salary: $307,000) says victims want to see emergency responders that "look like you," and if she isn't strong 
enough to carry your husband out of a fire, he "got himself in the wrong place."

They then failed to keep extra firefighters on duty as winds picked up just before the first forest fires were spotted - apparently to avoid paying 
overtime. That meant the LAFD couldn't get there before fires roared out of control.

Exhausted firefighters trying to save multi-million-dollar homes in Palisades ran out of water.

A major reason was that LA Water and Power Department CEO Janisse Quinones (salary: $750,000) had the 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez Reservoir drained 
to repair its base. A full reservoir would have replenished huge storage tanks that feed and pressurize local fire hydrants.

Quinones has said her "number one" priority is equity and social justice. Does that explain why the reservoir was drained in February 2024? No 
contractor was hired until November 2024, and even then no workers, equipment, or materials were in place for 24/7 repairs.

Just as incompetent, why was there no plan (or no action taken) to utilize fire-boats, tugboats, barges, and other vessels from Long Beach Harbor and 
the San Diego Navy Base?

Many are equipped with water storage, pumps, hoses, and nozzles. They could spray seawater directly on coastal homes or run hoses ashore to connect 
to fire hydrant systems.

Some saltwater would remain in the soil and kill some plants. However, the choice should be easy. Lose some prized vegetation to lingering salts - or 
have prized vegetation, homes, priceless heirlooms and artworks, vital documents, and everything else incinerated by raging infernos.

Further complicating matters, these fires created vast quantities of particulate matter and hazardous materials - from trees, plastics, batteries, 
solvents, and other materials in homes, buildings, and vehicles -that have contaminated waters and soils.

That will likely delay cleanup and rebuilding for years. In fact, the LA health office says debris removal and reconstruction are prohibited until 
licensed officials have examined sites for toxins.

Golden Staters should revamp their political, bureaucratic, and policy systems, starting with fewer woke Dems.

The incineration of all these forests and communities also undoubtedly released far more greenhouse gases than all the state's now-shuttered coal- 
and gas-fired power plants would have over many decades.

Citizens must be given opportunities to discuss all these matters at town hall meetings before the next conflagration strikes - inevitably if proper 
forest and water management and personnel hiring is not implemented immediately.

Put simply, the woke morons responsible for this rampant destruction and loss of life must be replaced with people who understand their Number One 
job is protecting citizens from crime, fires, and other disasters.

Meanwhile, Governor Newsom wants investigations into the fire disaster and loss of fire hydrant water. Californians undoubtedly pray he's not merely 
trying to find excuses and scapegoats so that he and his favorite legislators can save their political hides.

They should also place less reliance on the government - and more on themselves, the way the Getty Villa and several neighbors did in Malibu, thereby 
saving homes, treasures, and lives.

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January:

Record-Breaking Cold Enters The U.S.

Thailand's Unusual Chill

Drought Of "77 Blamed On Cooling

America's Arctic Outbreak, Updated Forecast

Japan Resorts Near 5 Meters (16.4 Feet) Of Snow

England On For 7th Coldest January Since 1659

The World Is Burning Less

Hemisphere-Wide Freeze Incoming

Polar Conditions Grip SE Europe

Germany's Heating Demand Soars

U.S. Still On Course To Freeze

Wellington's Cold Start To Summer

Iran's Freeze Drives Gas Consumption To Record Highs

"Polar Vortex Watch"

Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Above 1979-1990 Average

Pio Xi Glacier Advances

Uk & Ireland Freeze, Gas "Concerningly Low"

All-Time Record Cold In Qatar

Rare Chill Sweeps Taiwan

56% Of The U.S. Is Under Snow, Extreme Cold Inbound

Ireland's Extreme Cold Warnings Extended

Heavy Snow Buries Japan

Northern Hemisphere Snow Trackers

UK Braces For -20c (-4f)

Ideology Above Energy Security
Finland To -38.9c (-38f)
Madhya Pradesh Freezes
Southern US States Expecting Heaviest Snow In Years
Kashmir's Cold Kills
Record Freeze Grips Pakistan
Depleting European Gas Reserves
Michael Mann Ordered To Pay $530,820.21 In Long-Running Lawsuit
UK Shivers At -13.3c (8f)
Cold Winter Exacerbates Romania Gas Crisis
Arctic Blast Continues Across The U.S.
Rare Snow Sweeps Sahara Desert
Europe Plunges Below -30C (-22F), Sees Heavy Snow
U.S. Endures Record Cold
Rare Tashkurgan Snow
Global Temperature Nudges Lower
Thailand Freezes
Record Snow In Japan
Parts Of Morocco See Snow For First Time In 50 Years
Cattle Futures Hit Record High Amid Looming Arctic Blast
Three-Day Snow Warning For UK
Extreme Snowfall Paralyzes Northern Norway
Siberia Nears -60c (-76f)
Record Snows For Uttarakhand
"Dangerous Cold"