False information has flooded the right-leaning media about the California fires and Gov. Gavin Newsom's office is fighting back with facts.
One of the fact-checks involved a statement from Republican State Assemblymember Kate Sanchez, who alleged that Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed the state "to retain seasonal firefighters."
"If the Governor HAD signed this bill, it would have led to significant delays in hiring seasonal firefighters," his office clapped back. "Additionally, no layoffs have been attributed to the veto of this bill."
They also noted that Sanchez "DID NOT support billions in investment made through the state budget that would have supported CalFIRE’s prevention and response efforts."
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Other claims, such as that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is out of money, have been disputed by FEMA itself.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that Newsom should "open up the water main, and let the water flow into his dry, starving, burning State." It wasn't immediately clear what water main he meant.
“In terms of water reliability and water supply at this moment in Southern California, things are looking pretty solid,” the press office said, citing Mike McNutt of the Las Virgenes Municipal Water District, which serves 75,000 people in northwest Los Angeles County.
"Orange County Water District Chief Hydrogeologist Roy Herndon said his agency, which supplies groundwater to the north half of the county, has enough supply to carry its 2.5 million customers through the worst of any potential droughts — multiple years in a row with minimal rainfall.
“Three years, no problem. I’d say even five years,” Herndon said.
"The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California — which serves 19 million people mostly with imported water — also has an abundance, “with a record 3.8 million acre-feet of water in storage,” according to Interim General Manager Deven Upadhyay, who issued a statement last week. That’s enough water to supply 40 million people for a year.
Trump made a similar point on Tuesday, saying that Newsom refused to sign the water restoration declaration.
The press office fact-checked, "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.
