Devastating LA wildfires fueled by perfect storm of conditions — and clueless pols who ignored warnings
It was no secret that the Pacific Palisades were slowly becoming a tinderbox over the years, with Newsom himself pledging on his first day in office in 2019 to overhaul the state’s wildfire prevention apparatus.
“We need to do more and better,” he said at the time, promising the state would “step up our game” when it comes to forest thinning, controlled burns and other mitigation efforts aimed at protecting vulnerable communities — some of which were reduced to cinders this week as the fires devoured the long-uncleared brush.
Despite his tough talk, Newsom slashed and burned the state’s fire prevention budget by around $150 million — during one of its worst years for wildfires on record, according to an NPR report.
Even more galling, the governor shamelessly embellished the number of acres treated under his promised plan, claiming 90,000 acres were treated when the true figure was closer to 12,000.
“The abnormally high fuel loads from two wet years are very likely playing an important role here,” Park Williams, bioclimatologist and professor at UCLA, told The Post Thursday.
The Los Angeles Fire Department warned the increased risk of brushfires was quickly becoming a year-round phenomenon back in 2021, as an earlier blaze also dubbed the Palisades Fire torched more than 1,300 acres.
“We no longer have a brush fire season,” Margaret Stewart, spokeswoman for the LAFD told the LA Times.
“The extended duration of the drought and the dryness of the vegetation across the region means that we have these brush fires throughout the year.”
It was no secret that the Pacific Palisades were slowly becoming a tinderbox over the years.
nypost.com