False Claims About the California Fires

When major news breaks -- including news of a natural disaster -- false claims follow. We've seen this misinformation phenomenon in the past, and the devastating wildfires in Southern California, perhaps predictably, have led to political attacks and distortions spread on social media. 

Last week, staffers Catalina Jaramillo, D'Angelo Gore and Robert Farley teamed up to debunk claims made by President-elect Donald Trump, who cast blame on California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, and President Joe Biden. Trump claimed that Newsom had “refused to sign” a declaration that would have allowed water to flow from Northern California into the affected areas “to protect an essentially worthless fish.” But water policy experts told Catalina that there’s no connection between state water regulations or water flowing from the north and the ability to fight the fire.

Trump also wrongly claimed Biden had left the Federal Emergency Management Agency with “NO MONEY” in its emergency funds to provide federal assistance. A FEMA spokesperson told Rob there is about $27 billion in its Disaster Relief Fund from a recent infusion from Congress, enough to provide short-term disaster relief in California.

Read more about those claims and others in "Trump’s Blame Claims About Wildfire Response."

In other stories about the wildfires this week, we found:

• Social media posts were wrong in claiming Oregon’s firefighting vehicles were “being held in Sacramento for emissions testing.” California and Oregon officials said the trucks only go through quick safety inspections.
• Trump and Newsom traded claims about the state’s fire budget, and it turns out they're both right. 
• Social media posts misleadingly suggested a $770 payment for necessities like food and fuel would be the only federal aid for those affected by the fires.

Reader: On California Gov. Gavin Newsom: Did he or did he not cut 100M from fire budget?

FactCheck.org Director Lori Robertson: We looked into this claim -- and Newsom's counter-claim that the fire protection budget had "nearly doubled" under his watch. Both are actually true. 

As Deputy Director Robert Farley wrote: "Newsom did approve cuts to several supplemental funding initiatives in the wildfire budget last summer, but overall, the state’s multibillion-dollar firefighting budget and workforce increased."

Last year, Newsom proposed a total of $101 million in cuts to a one-time package of “wildfire and forest resilience” programs. Because of a budget shortfall and a balanced-budget requirement, the Legislature and Newsom ultimately agreed on $144 million in cuts. But the cuts didn’t affect the base budget for CAL FIRE, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Rob gathered the state’s official budget act documents, which showed that the 2024-25 budget included $4.2 billion for CAL FIRE. That’s a 68% increase from 2018-19 (Newsom took office in January 2019).  

The state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office, the Legislature’s nonpartisan fiscal adviser, provided Rob with estimates showing that CAL FIRE expenditures have gone up each year under Newsom. So far, the spending for 2023-24 is $4.59 billion, but that doesn’t include additional costs being incurred for fighting the recent fires in Los Angeles.

Read our full story for more, “Competing Claims on California Fire Budget.”

Wrapping Up

Here's what else we've got for you this week:

• "Biden’s Familiar Talking Points in Final Remarks": In his farewell address to the nation and in other recent remarks, President Joe Biden has repeated claims that are misleading or need additional context.
   
• "How Trump May Be Able to Stop Biden’s Ban on New Offshore Drilling": President-elect Donald Trump said that when he takes office he will “immediately” reverse President Joe Biden’s recent executive action making more than 625 million acres of U.S. coastal waters off limits for new offshore drilling. But Trump’s intent to quickly “unban” any future oil and gas drilling in those areas may not be as simple as he suggests.

• "Las acusaciones de Trump sobre la respuesta a los incendios forestales": Mientras los incendios forestales continuaban arrasando el sur de California, el presidente electo Donald Trump recurrió a las redes sociales con varias afirmaciones falsas y engañosas, culpando al gobernador demócrata de California, Gavin Newsom, y al presidente Joe Biden.
   
• "Camiones de bomberos de Oregón que combaten los incendios de LA no necesitaban ‘pruebas de emisiones’": Oregón ha enviado cientos de bomberos, 75 camiones de bomberos y otros equipos para ayudar a combatir los incendios en el sur de California. Pero publicaciones en las redes sociales afirman falsamente que los vehículos para combatir incendios de Oregón estaban “retenidos en Sacramento para hacerles pruebas de emisiones”. Funcionarios de California y Oregón dijeron que los camiones solo pasan por inspecciones de seguridad rápidas.