Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference on Sept. 25, 2024 in Los Angeles. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
"We’re successfully waging war against thousands of fires started across the state in the last few weeks due to extreme weather created by climate change while Trump is conducting a full on assault against the antidotes," Newsom said in response to Trump’s message, the Washington Post reported at the time.
Just roughly two weeks before Trump will be inaugurated as the nation's 47th president, he again took aim at Newsom's wildfire prevention leadership in the state, pinning blame for the LA County fires on Newsom and his environmental policies.
"Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,"Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday.
"He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California. Now the ultimate price is being paid. I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!"
Newsom's director of communications Izzy Gardon told Fox Digital in response to Trump's Truth Social: "We’re focused on protecting lives and battling these blazes – not playing politics."
"There is no such document as the water restoration declaration – that is pure fiction. The Governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need," Gardon added.
PALISADES FIRE: HEIDI MONTAG, SPENCER PRATT LOSE HOME; CELEBRITIES FLEE RITZY NEIGHBORHOOD
A firefighter battles the blaze as it burns a structure in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
"There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!,"he added in 2018 on X.
Newsom and other Democrats have historically pushed back that wildfires in the state are due to climate change and global warming.
ACTOR STEVE GUTTENBERG HELPS PALISADES FIRE FIRST RESPONDERS AS FLAMES RAGE, 'IT'S A GHOST TOWN'
"You don’t believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation," Newsom shot back at Trump in 2019, for example, after the president slammed him for his wildfire leadership.
California Republicans, however, have echoed Trump that Newsom and other Democrats in the state "failed" in addressing forestry management.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference in Los Angeles, on Nov. 13. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The state pushed back on the report, saying their efforts on wildfire prevention were hampered by the pandemic, "along with an unprecedented wildfire season which pulled our already strained wildfire crews away from prevention work to firefighting work."
"The notion that the Newsom administration is retreating on wildfire response – in dollars or actions – is wholly inaccurate," the governor’s office said after the investigation’s findings were released.
The Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan has since achieved and begun working on 100% of its 99 key actions, with the state also hiring an additional 3,000 new firefighters to CAL FIRE since 2019.
Palisades Fire burns during a windstorm on the west side of Los Angeles, Jan. 7, 2025. (Reuters/Ringo Chiu)
At least four wildfires are currently raging in Los Angeles County, tearing through the Pacific Palisades and Sylmar neighborhoods, as well as near Pasadena.
Newsom propositioned 65 fire engines, seven helicopters, nine bulldozers, and more than 105 specialized personnel in Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties ahead of the fire spiraling earlier this week. The National Guard was also deployed in response to the fire.
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"California has deployed 1400% firefighting personnel & hundreds of propositioned assets to combat these unprecedented fires in LA," Newsom said on X this week. "Emergency officials, firefighters, and first responders are all hands on deck through the night to do everything possible to protect lives."
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/flashback-trump-has-long-history-warning-newsom-over-terrible-wildfire-prevention