Police have arrested a suspected arsonist who may have ignited one of several fires that hit Southern California.
The suspect is believed to have started the Kenneth Fire, one of six that burned down the area, according to Fox 11 Los Angeles. The remaining five are Palisade, Eaten, Hearst, Lydia and the recently-flared Archer fire. At least 10 people have died from fire-related causes, 179,000 people have been advised to evacuate, and another 200,000 people are under evacuation orders. Monday's fire destroyed 10,000 buildings, making it the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history. An unknown number of residents, including celebrities, were left homeless.
As of early Friday afternoon, the fire had burned a total of 36,200 acres, with 20,400 acres in the Palisades and 13,700 acres in Eaten. Only 8 percent of the former fires and 3 percent of the latter fires have been contained, and these numbers are expected to increase. Containment refers to the lines established around a fire by firefighters to prevent further spread of the fire. Firefighters have extinguished most of the other smaller fires.
Cause unknown
Officials have not determined the cause of the fire, but there is no doubt that 160 mph winds in Santa Ana and more than eight months of lack of rain created the intense and infernal conditions currently gripping the region. Power lines are also suspect. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that “Southern California Edison, one of the region's major electric utilities, is investigating whether power lines near the sources of the Eaton and Hearst fires ignited both fires.'' “There is,” the report said.
And, as if on cue, experts are already assigning some of the blame to climate change.
“Because of the warming trend caused by climate change, the vegetation is a little drier and the fire season is a little delayed,” Crystal Raymond, deputy director of the Western Fire and Forest Resilience Collaborative at the University of Washington, told TIME. spoke. . “This dry season will likely coincide with the Santa Ana wind season.”
Globalists at the foreign policy think tank Council on Foreign Relations agreed. On Thursday, Varum Sivaram wrote: “California's wildfires provide a concrete example of how to apply an approach I call 'climate realism' to understanding the threat of climate change.” Focus on U.S. interests and takes a pragmatic attitude accordingly. ”
President Trump criticizes Newsom
President-elect Donald Trump is already placing some responsibility on environmentalists and the leaders who bow to them, including California Governor Gavin Newsom. On Wednesday, President Trump said on his Truth Social account:
Gov. Gavin Newcomb said millions of gallons of water from excess rain and snowmelt from the north will flow into many areas of California each day, including areas where the fires are currently burning. refused to sign the Water Restoration Declaration submitted before him. It's essentially an apocalyptic method. He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called smelt by giving them less water (it didn't work!), but he didn't care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean fresh water to flow into California. He is responsible for this. Moreover, there is no water in the fire hydrants or in the fire planes. What a disaster!
Mr. Newsom's news organization denies the existence of a water proclamation, saying, “There is no such document as a water restoration proclamation. It is pure fiction.” We're focused on making sure we have all our resources. Jeffrey Mount, a senior fellow at the Water Policy Center at the Public Policy Institute think tank in California, and Brent Haddad, a professor of environmental studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, told CNN there was never a “Water Recovery Manifesto.” . Get Newsom to sign it. Reports say state officials and even Republican lawmakers acknowledge this.
As for the smelt part, that's definitely true. Newsom supports the Delta Transportation Project, which aims to protect smelt habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.
water wars
Water is a major problem in the West, and droughts are as common as snowstorms in the Northeast. In the western regions, there can be months with little rain. Combine this with the fact that California is home to one of the largest agricultural industries and some of the most fanatical and ignorant environmentalists, and you have a recipe for a fierce water battle.
The Water Education Foundation lists 36 environmental organizations in California that are dedicated to diverting water to various environmental causes. Some groups combine the environmental movement with another favorite left-wing movement: identity politics. Communities for a Better Environment defines itself as “advocating for environmental health and justice by building grassroots power within and with communities of color and working-class communities.” We are a non-profit organization that works to achieve the goals of
Environmentalists argue that farmers are overfeeding, thereby reducing the natural flow that fish need to survive, and that more water should be added to rivers to protect a variety of species. argues that it should be left as is. The Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta is a hub for water diversion for agricultural and urban uses.
Meanwhile, access to water continues to disappear as far as agricultural producers are concerned. In 2021, the California Water Commission approved emergency regulations to prevent thousands of farmers and landowners from diverting water from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed. “Five Water Commission members appointed by Governor Gavin Newsom or former Governor Jerry Brown approved this rule despite strong opposition from representatives of Central Valley producers.” The Matters newspaper reported.
Republican state Sen. Shannon Grove said the regulation would “disrupt critical production of essential food. …Instead, the state would be able to expand water storage and improve existing water storage, rather than punish local water managers. The focus should be on improving water infrastructure in the region.” Democratic state Rep. Adam Gray called the order against senior water rights holders “one of the most destructive measures imaginable.”
In August 2018, hundreds of California farmers gathered at the state Capitol to “protest the state water authority's proposal to increase the amount of water in California's major rivers. He called it an overreach of power that meant less water to “the Central Valley,” the Associated Press reported. The plan would have doubled the amount of water flowing through the Los San Joaquín River and three of its tributaries, leaving less water available for agriculture. The move was designed to protect the state's dwindling salmon population.
Environmentalists have also become very active, successfully blocking the removal of dead leaves from the state's forests, thereby making more fuel available for wildfires. In the name of environmental protection, rainforests are being “suffocated” by the environment, as one expert puts it.
bad government
On top of all the challenges created by nature and activists, Californians have made their plight even worse by choosing the wrong leaders. In June, Governor Newsom signed a state budget that cuts funding for wildfire and forest resiliency by $101 million. “The cuts include a $5 million reduction in spending for the CAL FIRE Fuel Reduction Team, including funds used to pay for vegetation management work by the California National Guard,” Newsweek reported. “An additional $4 million was removed from the Forest Heritage Program, which aims to encourage good management practices by landowners, while funding provided to conservation organizations in multiple states to increase resilience to wildfires. This was reduced by $28 million.
