LA Fire Conspiracies and Hoaxes
Nothing new, just the usual ridiculous out-of-control conspiracies that spread every time anything happens.
IT’S ALL THE FAULT OF THE DEMOCRATS
This is an odd thing to say, since 44 Republicans voted against HR 10545, the American Relief Act of 2025.
Part of this bill is to provide funds for wildfire prevention measures, including $75,000,000 for the “construction or maintenance of shaded fuel breaks in the Pacific Regions.” These fuel breaks will help slow down the spread of fires, and increase the efficiency of firefighting efforts. Fortunately, the bill passed and was signed into law in December 2024, but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to get the extra fire breaks in place before the January 2025 fires in LA County.
Some of the Republicans who are posting about the California fires are neglecting to mention that they voted against wildfire prevention.
NEWSOM CUT $100M FROM FIRE PREVENTION BUDGET BEFORE CALIFORNIA FIRES
True but deceptive statement.
The budget was cut by $101 million for wildfire and forest resilience, but the overall budget for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection increased from $2 billion to $3.8 billion.
Rather than a decrease, it was a restructuring of funds with a large increase.
And on that note…
MAYOR CUT LA FIRE DEPARTMENT’S BUDGET BY $23MILLION
Wrong again. The budget wasn’t cut. It was INCREASED by $50 million. And yes, that was finalized weeks before the fires started.
“THEY” HAVE TARGETED HOMES BUT LEFT THE TREES STANDING
Are “they” able to change the laws of physics? What kind of magical fire can be controlled in that way? For what purpose?
If you’ve ever seen the aftermath of a forest fire, take note of how some trees are still standing. They might be scorched and sad with all their leaves burned off, but as they recover, they will start growing new leaves. Many will even go into overdrive after a fire to produce new seeds to propagate new trees to replace those who didn’t survive.
This is the natural and normal process allowing a forest to replenish itself. It happens that way because trees are full of water and have fire-resistant bark. The bigger and taller the tree, the more likely it is to survive a raging fire.
The fact is, countless thousands of trees have been lost in the LA fires, but yes, some are still standing, though scorched and bedraggled.
NEWSCUM REFUSED TO SIGN THE WATER RESTORATION DECLARATION SO THE SMELT CAN BE PROTECTED
Trump and his supporters claim LA doesn’t have enough water because the governor is protecting a fish. There’s so much wrong with this conspiracy, I hardly know where to start.
There is no such thing as a Water Restoration Declaration.
In Northern California, most of the water is supplied by the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. 30 million people and 6 million acres of farmland use this water. Trump claimed that a “main” can be opened to divert the water to LA. No such main exists.
A small portion of that delta water is sent to the estuary to support the ecosystem and to ensure the water isn’t too salty for farming.
Southern California, which includes LA, has some of their own water, but most comes from the Colorado River Basin. Even if it were possible to divert water from the north, it would be pointless, because they already have all the fire-fighting water they need.
It’s all more complicated than I will try to explain here, but those are the basics.
THE PACIFIC PALISADES WATER HYDRANTS DRYING UP IS PROOF OF MISMANAGEMENT and/or A WATER SHORTAGE
The Pacific Palisades has 3 water tanks supplying the hydrants. Each of these tanks holds one million gallons of water. Under normal circumstances, these tanks are ample for a single structure fire, or a cluster of several structures. As water is being used to fight a fire, the tanks are simultaneously and automatically refilling. But we are discussing not normal circumstances.
So much water was being used so fast, that the refilling process couldn’t keep up. So yes, the hydrants temporarily lost the water pressure they needed to keep functioning.
To compensate, convoys of large capacity gallon water trucks were dispatched to the area, and firefighters were quickly back in action.
BIDEN BLOCKED FIREFIGHTING AIRCRAFT DURING HIS LA VISIT
How do people think up ridiculous stuff like this? There is zero truth to this claim.
It is true that airspace restrictions for presidential flights cause delays and disruptions to commercial flights. But the firefighting aircraft continued operation by coordinating with air traffic control.
It is also true that firefighting aircraft had to go to ground for a period of time. But that had NOTHING to do with Biden. It had everything to do with the wind.
The wind picked up so much speed, that pilots were losing control of their crafts. It was a choice between crashing or landing. They landed. As soon as the winds slowed enough, they were back in the air fighting the fires.
THE OCEAN IS NEXT TO LA. WHY DON’T THEY USE SEAWATER TO ALLEVIATE THE WATER SHORTAGE?
Besides the fact there’s no shortage of water to fight the fires, seawater is used as a last resort only in certain situations.
Seawater is salty. It quickly corrodes firefighting equipment. Also, salt is an electric conductor. If firefighters on the ground use it around electric lines, they risk electrocution.
THE HOLLYWOOD SIGN BURNED DOWN
No it didn’t. The fire didn’t come near it and it’s intact.
FEMA HAS NO MONEY FOR LA RECOVERY EFFORTS
No truth at all to this. And no, money earmarked for disaster recoveries was NEVER diverted to illegal immigrants.
DIRECTED ENERGY WEAPONS STARTED THE FIRES
If you believe that ludicrous rumor, I don’t want whatever you’re taking.
OREGON FIRE TRUCKS WEREN’T ALLOWED IN BECAUSE THEY FAILED THE EMISSIONS TEST
This one started with a single post on X. Social media ran with it. The Santa Monica News Observer picked up the story. Except there was no truth to it.
At the time of that first post, those trucks had already been fighting the fires for several hours. They had come across the border after undergoing a brief safety check, but they received no emissions test!
After the Oregon State Fire Marshal reamed the originator of the hoax, he deleted that post and posted a retraction.
CLICK HERE to see some relevant screenshots.
$2.4B FOR RESERVOIRS NOT USED
This is referencing the Proposition 1 Water Storage Investment Program which passed in 2014 and was projected to cost $2.7B.
But the money for it has trickled in slowly. They finally received the bulk of it, $2.2 Billion in Federal Financing, in 2022.
Plans are underway to get started on the project, but I agree, they seem to be moving slowly. Completion is expected in 2030 or 2031.
INSURANCE COMPANIES CANCELED POLICIES MONTHS BEFORE THE FIRES
This one is actually true, and the California Department of Insurance is investigating.
ONE HOUSE WAS UNBURNED
This one has been going in a few directions, from “God is Good!” to “Proof that they are directing the fires“
The thing is, this is not a house in California. The now-famous red roofed house went untouched during the Maui Fires in 2023.
The owner of the house gave this statement: “I think it’s a combination of a commercial-grade corrugated metal roof, the stone [area] around the house, the palms around the house that absorb the heat — and a lot of divine intervention”
Original photos of the Maui house have been circulating with claims it survived one of the LA fires. Plus, someone used AI to insert the house into an LA image.
CLICK HERE to see several relevant images.
AND MANY MORE…
I’m not trying to write a book, so I’ve only covered the conspiracies I’ve seen most frequently. If any more go viral, I’ll update the post.
In the meantime, stop sharing them. Almost all of them are either outright lies, or a grain of truth has been twisted out of all recognition.
