“A war scene, with bombings”. This is how Joe Biden, American president until January 20 before the inauguration of Donald Trump in Washington, described the devastating fires in Los Angeles, California on Friday, January 10. At least eleven people died in this disaster.
The wind fanning the flames began to weaken on Friday, as more than 10,000 buildings were destroyed and more than 14,000 hectares went up in smoke. But the controversy over the effectiveness of the relief and the management of the crisis by the authorities is growing.
One person concentrates the criticisms made by Californians in this crisis management: Karen Bass. The Democratic mayor of the second most populous city in the United States first left Los Angeles on Saturday January 4 for Ghana, as part of the inauguration of the new president, John Dramani Mahama. She only returned on Wednesday afternoon, even though the fires had been raging since Tuesday and the first alerts had been given by the meteorological services on January 2. When she returned to Los Angeles airport, questioned by a Sky News journalist about her crisis management, the city councilor remained silent.
Karen Bass is also criticized for budget cuts to public services in Los Angeles. In a December 4 note relayed by CBS News, local fire chief Kristin Crowley warned of a 2% drop in the budget allocated to her services, with a decrease of $17.6 million (around $17.16 million). euros) between 2023 and 2024. According to her, budget cuts “had a negative impact on the department’s ability to maintain its core operations”.
Asked about these budget cuts during a press conference Thursday morning, the mayor of Los Angeles said they did not impact the firefighters’ ability to deal with ongoing fires. Kristin Crowley told Fox News affiliate KTTV that firefighters were missing “always staff, resources and funds”. Californians are also being asked by the authorities to save water, because certain tanks supplying fire hydrants have been emptied by the fight against the flames.
Given the extent of the damage, California Governor Gavin Newsom called on Friday “a comprehensive independent review” city water distribution services. The elected Democrat described as “deeply disturbing” the lack of water supply and loss of pressure at hydrants in the early stages of the fires, which helped allow them to expand. “We need answers to find out what happened”he wrote in an open letter.
-The Democratic governor, whom Donald Trump accuses of being responsible for the situation, notably raised the issue of a water tank with a capacity of 440 million liters of water, out of service, in the Pacific Palisades district. , one of the most affected by the fires. “If the Santa Ynez Reservoir had been operating, we probably would have had some help keeping pressures high. It wouldn’t have been a panacea. It probably wouldn’t have lasted forever.”nuanced to NBC News Marty Adams, a former manager of the Water Department of the city of Los Angeles.
Several evacuation alerts were also sent by mistake to the phones of residents of certain areas far from the fires, Thursday and Friday, as relayed by Los Angeles Times. These messages led the authorities to apologize on Friday. The city’s municipal emergency director urged residents who received the alerts to check whether they are in areas to be evacuated.
A request “absolutely absurd”according to Kathryn Barger, a member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, a government oversight body for local authorities. “I’m not going to tell people: ‘If you get the alert, go check it'”she denounced during the same press conference.
The Federal Civil Aviation Authority also announced the opening of an investigation after a civilian drone struck and damaged a tanker plane on Thursday above the Pacific Palisades neighborhood. The tanker could fly again on Monday, after repairs, reports the Los Angeles Times.
