‘Woke up the green hydrogen bomb’: Historian slams California leaders for ‘senseless’ response to wildfires

There was a lot that preceded the “nonsensical” response by state leaders in Los Angeles and California to the devastating wildfires that continue to burn across the region, according to the historian and political commentator. Victor Davis Hanson.

“To mitigate, you have to know what went wrong, and there were short-term and long-term problems,” Davis, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution’s public policy think tank, told Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday . “And I don’t think climate change has played a role, at least not an immediate role.”

Davis described the situation as an “awakened green hydrogen bomb.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass absence during the critical first 24 hours of hell to empty fire hydrants, a dysfunctional reservoir, an underfunded fire department and a lack of new water infrastructure despite Gov. Gavin Newsom’s support for billions of dollars intended to do so.

THE COUNCILOR IN THE DISTRICT WHICH EXPLODED BY FOREST FIRES POINTS OUT THAT THE LEADERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EMPTY RESERVOIRS

“It’s a very fragile system,” Hanson said. “What Gavin Newsom didn’t do is he didn’t take the allocated money and build the reservoirs that would have accommodated the increased population. Second, the water that’s being pumped through the Delta (Sacramento River -San Joaquín), he let it go in the bay under the demands of environmentalists, he said in his defense that the reservoirs are not true 75% full, and now we are in a semi-drought.

Newsom told NBC News in a pre-taped interview that aired Sunday: “The reservoirs are completely full — the state reservoirs here in Southern California. This misinformation and misinformation, I don’t think, is doing us any favors or helping any of us.” .

But as of Tuesday, Lake Shasta, California’s largest reservoir, was at 77 percent capacity, with about 3.52 million acre-feet of water out of its total capacity of 4.55 million ‘acre- feet according to the Claims Bureau.

Fox News Digital reached out to Newsom’s office for comment and has yet to hear back.

California exists reservoirs can only hold so much water, and many were built in the mid-20th century.

In 2014, Golden State voters approved Proposition 1also known as the Water Quality, Supply and Infrastructure Improvement Act, which authorized $2.7 billion in bonds to increase the state’s water storage capacity by building new reservoirs and underground water storage facilities. However, in January, no new reservoirs were completed according to Prop. 1.

In 2024, the state experienced record rainfall following an atmospheric river event, but the existing water infrastructure faced difficulties in handling the sudden influx of water. A significant portion of that rain poured into the ocean as the state struggles to properly store the water, several California agencies said.

“There was a reservoir of about 120 million gallons that could have been used because they only had three million in reserve, that probably would have made a difference,” Hanson said. “This had been inactive for almost a year, and it was because the cover was broken. It was nonsense.”

The decommissioned reservoir Hanson referred to, known as the Santa Ynez Reservoir in Pacific Palisades, has been closed for repairs since February due to a breach in its deck, which was designed to hold water quality, the Los Angeles Times first reported. reported on Tuesday.

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Hanson has a central valley farm that is based on the melting of the snow of the Sierra Nevada mountains, he explained.

In California’s Central Valley, crop water typically comes from the Sierra, primarily through the San Joaquin River system, which is backed by large dams such as Shaver, Huntington, and Pine Flat. This water is often released into the Sacramento River, which flows into the Delta. Despite increased demand, no new dams have been built on the San Joaquin system in decades.

On the west side of the valley, the water comes from melting snow Northern California Cascade Range and northern Sierra, which fill larger reservoirs such as Oroville and Folsom. These reservoirs were designed to store water during wet years, ensuring a constant supply in average years and a reserve during drought years.

However, California has been dealing with a prolonged drought, with little rain or snow in recent weeks, causing reservoir levels to drop.

“So when Gavin Newsom says, well, ‘they’re full,’ they’re not full, but they’re going down at a rapid rate, because it’s not going to stop releases into the ocean,” Hanson said. “They’re still going, as you and I speak, and they’re not pumping 100 percent into the aqueduct, which serves agriculture in Los Angeles.”

Newsom, for his part, has shifted the blame to local management and ordered an independent review by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

“We need answers as to how this happened,” Newsom wrote to the department’s director and the Los Angeles County Public Works director on Jan. 10, regarding the reports of the loss of water supply.

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For his part, Newsom also proposed allocating at least 2.5 billion dollars additional funding to bolster California’s emergency response and recovery efforts in Los Angeles, his office announced Monday.

The proposed funding would support recovery and cleanup operations, improve wildfire preparedness and help reopen schools closed due to the fires. The funding would come from the state’s Disaster Response Emergency Operations account, with $1.5 billion coming from accelerating the use of climate bond funds for immediate use, according to his office.

There has been a slight increase in containment of the deadly Palisades and Eaton fires burning in Los Angeles Countyaccording to a Wednesday night update from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The Palisades fire, the larger of the two with 23,713 acres burned Wednesday, is 21 percent contained after it ignited in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood more than a week ago, according to the department.

The Eaton Fire in the Altadena/Pasadena area was 45 percent contained as of Wednesday night. Both fires broke out on January 7.

Fox News Digital has reached out to Bass’ office for comment.

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Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett contributed to this report.