Over the past six days, wildfires have been wreaking havoc on southern California — and they’re not done yet. We’ve seen countless images of utter destruction and heartbreak. And there’s been no shortage of criticism regarding the local and state response to the situation — particularly in terms of preparation. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) and California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) have come under heavy fire for their (lack of) leadership in the midst of a disastrous situation.
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In contrast, the federal government has seemingly been all-in on providing the necessary support and backup for state and local authorities in terms of investigating the origins of the fires and funding recovery efforts. (Western North Carolina might like a word.) FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell has been front and center on the issue and made the rounds on the Sunday shows to discuss the current status as well as future recovery efforts in the area.
Criswell was interviewed Sunday morning by Margaret Brennan on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”
With Santa Ana winds forecast to return, @FEMA_Deanne says she’s “concerned for the safety” of the firefighters in Los Angeles and “concerned for their ability to continue to contain this fire.”
“I want people to make sure that they are listening closely to what local officials… pic.twitter.com/lf4ETSsUKY
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 12, 2025
They covered a number of topics, and the full transcript may be viewed here, but I’d like to zero in on one of Criswell’s responses, which frankly seems outlandish, given what we’ve seen over the past week.
When asked why the Los Angeles area was so unprepared for these wildfires, @FEMA_Deanne says, “I think that they were very prepared.” But she adds the firefighters “have never seen 100 mph winds that are fueling the fire.” pic.twitter.com/JELhORdFoE
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) January 12, 2025
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, I know the winds themselves are rare for this particular time of year, but Los Angeles, in the area, they got a lot of experience with wildfires. They have a lot of regulation and a large firefighting force. Do you have a sense at this point why the area was so unprepared?
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: I think that they were very prepared. This is something that they are very used to, they fight fires all the time. But they have never seen 100 mile an hour winds that are fueling the fire, and those winds and that weather condition is what really impacts, you know, where this fire is going to go, but more importantly, how they’re able to try to contain it in those first few hours and days. And because it was in such a populated area, it just makes it that much more challenging to be able to get in there and secure the perimeter, but as well, try to save as many homes as possible.
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I don’t mean to belabor the obvious, but this is one of those “Two things can be true at once” situations. Yes, the conditions themselves were extreme. Yes, this has been almost a perfect storm in terms of the combined wind conditions and locations of the fires. But at virtually no point in all of this have we seen an indication that the area was “very prepared” to combat these fires. Wildfires didn’t just become a thing in California. The Santa Ana winds have been around for thousands of years. SoCal didn’t suddenly become densely populated.
And even if it were arguably true that there may have been little they could have done to outright prevent the fires, we’ve seen multiple examples since they began of critical failures — lack of water in hydrants, lack of traffic control to aid the ease of evacuations, conflicting evacuation messages, lack of water in a key reservoir, etc. On top of which, we’ve seen multiple instances of local and state officials fumbling for answers, back-pedaling, pointing fingers elsewhere, and doing metaphorical backflips in order to avoid accountability.
None of these folks inspire confidence. And to characterize them and the entities they’re tasked with leading as “very prepared” should set off even the most charitable observer’s BS meter.
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