Fact-checking criticism of California officials over fires

The wildfires raging in Los Angeles have led to claims that officials there have mismanaged the city's preparation for such events.

President-elect Donald Trump has pointed the finger of blame at California Governor Gavin Newsom, who he says is responsible for LA's struggling water supply.

Others have blamed LA Mayor Karen Bass for cutting the city's fire department budget.

BBC Verify looked into the facts behind the political fallout.

In a social media post on Wednesday, Trump said Governor Newsom "refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water" to put out the fires.

But the specific declaration he mentions doesn't appear to exist.

The governor's press office issued a statement in response, saying: "There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction."

We've also searched for this document and been unable to find it.

Newsom, a Democrat, has previously opposed efforts to redirect more water to southern California.

This includes a 2020 presidential memorandum in which Trump sought to divert water away from Northern California to farmland further south.

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Newsom opposed this at the time, saying he wanted to protect "highly imperilled fish species close to extinction".

That is what Trump is referencing in his post blaming Newsom for the response to the wildfires, where he says the governor "wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish", Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt has confirmed.

California's attorney general ultimately blocked the measure, citing potential harm to endangered species and saying that it was not scientifically justified.

Jeffrey Mount, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California's Water Policy Center, said: "The federal government does not deliver water from northern California to southern California.

"While efforts to save Delta smelt, along with salmon and steelhead trout, do reduce the amount of water that is moved from northern California by the state at certain times, it has no bearing on the current availability of water for fire-fighting."

Although southern California is currently experiencing a drought, data shows its reservoirs are almost all currently above the historic average for this time of the year. None are at significantly low levels.

However, one large reservoir in Pacific Palisades, the Santa Ynez Reservoir, was closed for maintenance and empty when the fire broke out.

Officials from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) said that if the Santa Ynez Reservoir had been operational, it might have increased the supply of water, but that it's unclear what the ultimate effect might have been.

On Friday, Newsom confirmed Trump's claim that there had been no water for some fire hydrants, which hampered the emergency response.

Firefighters in Los Angeles have told the BBC firsthand that they experienced shortages.

Newsom called for an independent investigation into the loss of water pressure to hydrants and "the reported unavailability of water supplies from the Santa Ynez Reservoir".

In a letter addressed to the heads of the LA Department of Water and Power and LA County Public Works, Newsom said that reports of inadequate water supplies were "deeply troubling" .

"Losing supplies from fire hydrants likely impaired the effort to protect some homes and evacuation corridors," he wrote.

"We need answers to how that happened," he continued, adding that he expects the agencies to "fully and transparently" share information and records for the state's probe.

Adam Van Gerpen, a captain with the Los Angeles fire department, confirmed to the BBC that his crew, which has been tackling the Pacific Palisades blaze, and other crews battling other wildfires, ran out of water, forcing them to "improvise".

LA Mayor Karen Bass has faced criticism over cuts to the city's fire department budget.

For the latest financial year, the LA Fire Department (LAFD) budget was reduced by $17.6m (£14.3m).

LA Fire Chief Kristin Crowley told CNN that the budget cut had "severely" affected the department's ability to respond to the disaster.

She said the department was already under-staffed and the elimination of civilian positions, like mechanics, had meant that 100 fire apparatuses were out of service.

Mayor Bass responded to the criticism, saying: "There were no reductions that were made that would have impacted the situation that we were dealing with over the last couple of days."

According to the LA Times, after the 2024-25 budget was passed, the city council approved $53m in pay raises for firefighters and $58m for new kit, such as firetrucks.

Once that funding is taken into account, the fire department's operating budget technically grew this year, according to the newspaper.

The LAFD has an overall budget of approaching $1bn, and it isn't the only department responding to the fires.

For example, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Los Angeles County Fire Department are part of the relief efforts, along with the federal government.

Additional reporting by Joshua Cheetham and Merlyn Thomas