The mainstream media desperately wants the Los Angeles wildfire story to have a very specific villain: Climate Change.
The theory they’re pushing goes like this: Climate Change is real — only a stupid “science denier” would argue otherwise. And because it’s real, weather patterns are far more extreme. From famines, fires, and droughts to hurricanes, snowstorms, and floodings, Climate Change is the answer to all your questions. So, YES, Climate Change is responsible for the LA wildfires!
Hence, the deluge of climate-centric news stories:
Time Magazine: L.A. Fires Show the Reality of Living in a World with 1.5˚C of Warming
New York Times: ‘We’re in a New Era’: How Climate Change Is Supercharging Disasters
ABC News: This Is How Climate Change Contributes to the California Wildfires
LA Times: Intensifying Climate ‘Whiplash’ Set the Stage for Devastating California Fires
New York Times: Scientists Say Musk Wrongly Downplays Climate Role in L.A. Fires
Bloomberg: Climate Change Risks Cracking California’s Insurance Market Wide Open
Sacramento Bee: It Isn’t Lack of Water or DEI Making LA’s Wildfires Worse. Experts Say It’s Climate Change
Associated Press: Climate Change Contributed to a Week of Wild Weather That Upended Life in the US
The Guardian: How the Climate Crisis Fuels Devastating Wildfires: ‘We Have Tweaked Nature and Pissed It Off’
Washington Post: The Los Angeles Fires Won’t Affect Climate Denial. They Should.
If you only read the headlines (and lacked critical thinking skills) you’d probably conclude that Climate Change had done it again: Because we failed to “follow the science,” wildfires were spontaneously breaking out across California. And with the sky-high heat, the poor firemen couldn’t possibly extinguish this manmade monstrosity of flames and fire. We’re doomed!
As we noted:
[Y]ou could certainly understand why the public might blame Climate Change for the wildfires. It’s a plausible villain: Sometimes, fires spontaneously ignite — when lightning strikes a tree, for example — and without human intervention, large-scale areas will burn to a crisp.
Fortunately, our firefighting technology and conservation efforts have allowed us to minimize the dangers of forest fires. It’s one of the reasons why the United States actually has more trees today than 100 years ago, despite our population tripling from 106 million to 336 million[.]
As it turns out, 95% of California’s wildfires are started by humans, not Mother Nature.
John Abatzoglou, a climatology professor from the University of California, studied 30 years of wildfires in Los Angeles County. After examining the data from 1992 through 2020, he declared: “More than 95% of these [California fires] are human-ignited fires.”
Arson, he noted, was among the leading causes, but careless, unintentional human behavior was the primary driver.
But in recent years, California’s homeless problem has exploded. Their numbers have grown exponentially; homeless lawlessness has spiraled. It’s triggered a mass exodus from the state — and a deadly crime wave, too. (My colleague, Victoria Taft, has excellent coverage of West Coast craziness.)
Including the crime of arson.
Attorney James Breslo lives in Pacific Palisades and claimed that, “The LA Fire Department reports that 54% of fires in 2023 were started by homeless. They responded to almost 14,000 fires that year alone related to homelessness!”
It’s an eye-opening read. I encourage you to read it. Among the highlights:
A few months ago, a LA City Council person reported to me that she spends 80 percent of her time on LA’s homeless problem. Eighty percent! That does not leave much time to focus on the basic needs of the average tax paying LA resident, such as water, power, sanitation, safety, security, roads, sidewalks, traffic, parks, beaches, schools, firefighting and fire prevention. And when the mayor feels free to jet off to Ghana for a presidential inauguration on the other side of the globe, we cannot assume the other twenty percent of time is well spent.
In addition, the Council passed a budget for this year providing $1.3 Billion for homeless-related expenses. The same budget cut spending on the fire department by $17 million!
If the Council was focused on what it should have been, it likely would have known that the main reservoir needed to fight fires in Pacific Palisades was under repair and unavailable to provide water to fight fires in the middle of the Santa Ana winds fire season. Firefighters had access to only 3 million gallons of water which ran out on the first night of fires. The reservoir normally contains 117 million gallons of water! None was available.
According to the LA Times, the reservoir shut down in February for minor repairs to its cover. LA’s Department of Water and Power, did not even seek bids for the repair until April! It did not hire a contractor until November! It still is not repaired! Total cost of repair: $130K, about the cost of a new Mercedes.
Breslo pulled no punches when assigning blame:
The LA city council consists of about two thirds’ Democrats, one third Democrat Socialists of America (DSA), and zero Republicans. It uses the homeless problem as an excuse to implement its far-left agenda, which includes rent controls, tenant eviction protections, mansion taxes, free basic income, reparations, sanctuary laws, and free housing for all.
For the City’s leaders, basic services that most Angelenos care about, like firefighting, are at the bottom of their list of priorities.
While we don’t yet know who started the fire (my colleague Matt Margolis says it wasn’t Billy Joel), the math is pointing in a very obvious direction: 95% of all California wildfires were ignited by people. In recent years, 54% were started by the homeless.
Meanwhile, the LA government spends 80% of their time on homeless issues, and billions of dollars on a homeless problem that keeps getting bigger.
The Los Angeles wildfire story is NOT about Climate Change. (We’re in the middle of January, for God’s sake!) It’s about human criminality and/or negligence, and the misplaced priorities of loony-left government officials.
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