Tag: wildfires

Why Was the Reservoir Supplying Pacific Palisades Empty?

There’s a funny scene in the film Smokey and the Bandit when Sheriff Buford T. Justice tells his son “Junior” to hand over his service revolver so that he can use it to shoot the fleeing Bandit’s tires. Junior obeys his father and hands over his pistol, but to Buford’s chagrin, the hammer falls on an empty chamber. When Buford asks why his son’s pistol isn’t loaded, Junior replies, “When I put bullets in it, daddy, it gets too heavy.”

I was reminded of this scene when I saw the news that the Santa Inez Reservoir, supplying backup water to Pacific Palisades, was empty during the fires.

Coincidentally, last April I attended a garden party in Pacific Palisades. The back patio of the magnificent (and now incinerated) home commanded a sweeping view of the hills, including the reservoir, and I noticed that the 117-million-gallon water storage facility was empty.

Note the cover in the above photograph from 2022. The rationale for the cover—the construction of which was completed in 2012—was to comply with EPA regulations.

Does it really take almost a year to repair a water tank’s cover? Or—following the same weird logic that Junior applied to leaving his revolver unloaded—did whoever is in charge of LA’s auxiliary water supply conclude that filling the reservoir would make the structure too wet?

As was just reported in the Los Angeles Times:

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday ordered an independent investigation of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power over the loss of water pressure and the empty Santa Ynez Reservoir, calling it “deeply troubling.”

“We need answers to how that happened,” Newsom said in a letter to leaders of DWP and L.A. County Public Works.

DWP spokesperson Ellen Cheng said, “We appreciate the Governor’s letter and believe that an investigation will help identify any new needed capabilities for water systems to support fighting wildfires.”

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LA’s Palisades Fire likely caused by humans in hiking area popular with teens: report

The Palisades Fire, the biggest and most destructive wildfire in Los Angeles history, has “human origins” as a likely cause, according to a new report.

Authorities investigating the cause of the fire told the Los Angeles Times that they believe it was started by someone — possibly as an accident, sources told the Times.

Officials noted the trail is popular with hikers and is often used as a hangout by local teens and the fire may have “human origins,” according to the Times.

The area’s an overlook known as Skull Rock on the Temescal Ridge trail in Pacific Palisades. The blaze has consumed nearly 30,000 acres (47 square miles) and destroyed 5,000 structures since it was sparked nearly a week ago.

A small fire burned there on New Year’s Eve after apparently being started by fireworks, but was put out shortly after.

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Los Angeles landlords jack up rent by as much as 124% — flouting price gouging laws during deadly wildfires

Landlords in fire-ravaged Los Angeles have jacked up rents — in some cases by more than double the price — in violation of California law against price gouging as thousands of residents seek shelter.

By law, landlords are not permitted to raise the price of housing by more than 10% after a state of emergency has been declared.

But a search of local listings and horror stories from realtors show that many opportunistic landlords are openly flouting the law after the wildfires destroyed entire communities. Some 12,000 structures, from Malibu to Pacific Palisades to Altadena, have been left in ruins.

Samira Tapia, a Los Angeles-based real estate agent, told the New York Times that her review of more than 400 listings found that almost 100 properties had rents raised beyond the 10% threshold.

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MSNBC Broadcasts Joy Reid’s Utterly Insane California Wildfire Conspiracy Theory

At this point in 2025, everyone pretty much knows what to expect from MSNBC race baiter Joy Reid.

Whether she’s raging about black people, white people, President-elect Donald Trump, or just raging for the sake of raging, Reid is a known, established entity — unfortunately.

So it should come as little surprise that Reid was back on her nonsense during her show’s Monday broadcast, spewing her usual rhetoric.

You can watch watch her idiocy for yourself below…

If you just can’t bring yourself to watch Joy Reid (and this writer can’t blame you … at all), the MSNBC talking head was discussing the raging wildfires that have razed swathes of southern California.

That, in and of itself, is totally fine.

But, as she is wont to do, Reid couldn’t just offer a recap and some prayers.

No, she had to bust out her tinfoil hat.

“The vulture capitalists are already circling, hoping to snap up the burned up properties for pennies on the dollar, so they can hedge fund them,” Reid said. This writer must admit that, given the lengthy tendrils of groups like BlackRock, Reid almost makes a good point here. Almost.

And it actually would’ve been a fine point had she ended it there. Surely you see where this is going.

“But the worst part,” Reid said, before hilariously catching herself and adding, “other than the fires themselves, has been the lies” Nice catch, Joy.

“Though if there is one thing the billionaire right is, they are consistent,” said Reid, whose net worth is generally accepted to be in the millions.

“They want California, America’s biggest state economy,” Reid continued, “because if they can take California and retrofit it with their ugly, right-wing policies, the way they’ve ruined Florida and Texas, and every other red state where poverty rates are high and education is warped, and non-white immigrants, pregnant women, victimized girls, and LGTBQ folks live in fear, then the fight for permanent control of America is basically over.

“They can drill and frack California until the fires this past week pale in comparison.

“They can rip out all the forests and hand over the land to developers, Florida-style.

“They can drive out the brown people, and the black and Asian people, or just sink them into the same apartheid they’ve created in Texas, and they will control enough electoral votes if they control California to never have to worry about another presidential election.”

Wow. Where to even begin with that unhinged rant? Let’s just go in order.

Her near-good point about BlackRock-like entities aside, Reid’s rant is rife with inaccuracies.

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“Absolutely Disgusting”: Biden Announces Victims Of Fires To Get $770 Each

Americans have reacted with utter disgust after Joe Biden announced that victims of the California fires are to receive a one time paltry payment of $770 if they apply for it.

Biden’s announcement came during a White House meeting with other federal officials on Monday, where he stated “I want to be clear, we’re not waiting until those fires are over to start helping the victims. We’re getting them help right now.”

“People impacted by these fires are going to receive a one-time payment of $770, one-time payment, so they can quickly purchase things like water, baby formula, and prescriptions,” Biden continued, adding “So far, nearly 6,000 survivors have registered to do just that, and $5.1 million has gone out.”

The people of LA and the surrounding areas impacted by the fires will enjoy $20 more than the victims of last year’s Hurricane Helene, who received $750, and a whopping $70 more than victims of the August 2023 Maui wildfires.

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Is Woke ‘Equity’ the Reason Why Pacific Palisades Is Now a Moonscape?

Video that just surfaced from last summer shows that the head of the Los Angeles water utility was solely dedicated to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to “right the wrongs of the past… from an infrastructure perspective.” Did these well-intentioned-sounding, though misplaced priorities compromise public safety in Los Angeles? Is that why the fire hydrants were dry in Pacific Palisades when hellacious fires broke out? Was wokeness the reason why the Palisades’ reservoir sat dry and idle for nearly a year?

From the moment she was selected to be the CEO and Chief Engineer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP), Janisse Quiñones, saw her role “through the lens of equity… and social justice.” Indeed, the woke mindset permeated the entire operation. But beginning in 2021, Mayor Eric Garcetti set the DWP — and all of the L.A. governmental superstructure — on the path of critical race theory. All thoughts, actions, and priorities were seen through the “lens of equity.” Not equality, equity. The two are quite different. 

Did that mindset play a role in decisions leading to the disastrous response to the firestorms?

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Follow the Science? 95% of California’s Wildfires Are Started by PEOPLE, Not Global Warming!

California, the bluest of blue states, is being blown apart by wildfires. You’ve seen the news and watched the footage; the devastation is almost unimaginable. Los Angeles is literally going up in smoke.

Gonna take quite a few “carbon offsets” to mitigate all that burning, eh?

It’s also created a vexing problem for Left Coast liberals, California politicians (again: liberals), and the mainstream media (again once more: liberals). After all, when a calamity strikes, someone’s gotta take the blame.

And in California, there just aren’t any Republicans around anymore: No one in the GOP is in a position of authority. California is a one-party state.

So who do they blame?

If only Inauguration Day had come a month earlier! Then, Gov. Newsom could’ve at least blamed Trump for dragging his feet. Maybe he could’ve even pulled a “Katrina” and blamed everything on the chief executive, washing his hands of the whole mess!

But with Biden in charge (at least, on paper) the Democrats don’t have anyone to point fingers at. And if no single human can be blamed, what do you do?

Answer: You blame Global Warming.

(Which, of course, allows you to ALSO blame Republicans, Trump, capitalism, and the free market — liberal boogeymen one and all.)

At breakneck speed, the mainstream media hopped aboard the Global Warming bandwagon. Here are just a few of the headlines:

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.

Keep in mind, all of these headlines are just a few days old! The media is working overtime to gaslight Americans. (And I’m pretty sure gaslighting folks during a wildfire is a really bad idea.)

The irony is that the Democratic Party has long claimed to be voice of “science.” Unlike those unenlightened, knuckle-dragging Republicans, the liberals are the ones who fearlessly “follow the science,” bravely going wherever it leads.

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Suspect arrested with ‘flamethrower’ near LA Fire is an illegal immigrant: sources

The homeless man tackled and zip-tied by onlookers who say he was trying to start fires with a blowtorch near a Los Angeles wildfire is an illegal immigrant who will likely be protected by California’s sanctuary city status, according to sources.

The suspect is Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva, a Mexican national who is in the United States illegally, sources told The Post.

He was chased and taken down by residents of Woodland Hills after they allegedly saw him torching old Christmas trees and debris on fire with what one resident described as a “flamethrower” soon after the massive wildfire began Thursday.

The suspect is being held on a felony probation violation, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) said, without detailing his previous conviction.

Detectives are still investigating it as possible arson, but LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said Friday that there was not immediately enough evidence for that charge.

ICE placed a detainer request on him three days ago, but the federal agency does not expect it to be honored due to California’s sanctuary state law, sources said.

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Kamala Harris Delivers Word Salad to California Wildfire Victims

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris convened Senior White House and Administration officials for a briefing on the federal government’s response to the Los Angeles wildfires.

The Los Angeles fires have killed at least 24 people and destroyed more than 12,000 structures, and the reported estimated damage is around $150 billion.

The damage is largely due to Democrats like Governor Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass after they slashed fire department funding and didn’t fill reservoirs.

On Monday Biden announced his Regime is giving $770 to people impacted by the California wildfires.

“People impacted by these fires are gonna receive one-time payment of $770,” Biden said.

What a joke.

Kamala Harris dropped this gem during Monday’s briefing…

“It’s critically important that, to the extent you can find anything that gives you an ability to be patient in this extremely dangerous and unprecedented crisis, that you do,” Kamala Harris said.

How profound.

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Palisades Fire was likely started by dormant blaze sparked by NYE fireworks: report

The Palisades Fire that has devastated Los Angeles and killed at least eight people may have reignited from scorch marks left by an earlier inferno that is believed to have been caused by fireworks set off on New Year’s Eve, according to a report.

The remnants of the New Year’s Eve fire likely could’ve been reignited by strong winds — which have made the current blazes difficult to control — even six days after it was put out, the Washington Post reported.

An analysis of satellite images, radio communications, videos as well as interviews by the publication found that the deadly Palisades Fire began in the same area where firefighters had put out the previous fire — and that firefighters were slower to respond to the second blaze, which quickly became one of the most destructive in California’s history.

Frustrated residents told the Washington Post that the response time from first responders when the Palisades Fire first started last Tuesday was much slower than it’d been on New Year’s Eve.

Nearby resident Michael Valentine was home during the start of both fires — and said the difference in the firefighting response between the two was like night and day.

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