President-elect Donald J. Trump blamed California’s Democratic governor on Wednesday for the failure to contain fires engulfing parts of the Los Angeles area, accusing the state’s government of letting environmental policies run amok.
In a post on his social media site, Mr. Trump mocked Gov. Gavin Newsom, calling him “incompetent” and claiming that the governor had blocked an infusion of water to Southern California because of concern about the impact on a threatened fish.
“He wanted to protect an essentially worthless fish called a smelt, by giving it less water (it didn’t work!), but didn’t care about the people of California,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Now the ultimate price is being paid.”
Mr. Trump’s angry commentary came even as Southern California residents were fleeing three separate fires. Two people have been confirmed to have died from the fires, and authorities were warning the area’s residents to be ready to evacuate their homes at a moment’s notice.
President Biden, who was in the Los Angeles area for a previously scheduled event, was set to visit a fire station and to get briefed by the state’s fire officials.
Mr. Trump took a different approach.
In his social media post, the president-elect called the governor “Gavin Newscum” and said that he had refused to sign a declaration that would have allowed more water to flow into Southern California.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,” Mr. Trump said.
Debates in California over water have a long history. Most of the state’s water comes from Northern California, which receives more rain and snow each year than Southern California, as has been the case so far this winter. But most of that water is used by Central Valley farmers and Southern California residents, setting up a perennial battle over how much water the state and federal government should send south.
In 2019, during his first term in office, Mr. Trump pushed changes that would have diverted more water to growers in the Central Valley. Those changes were opposed by environmentalists who expressed concern about the impact on fish like salmon and smelt. The Biden administration backed a different plan that allowed water to flow but with efforts to protect fish.
In his online posting, Mr. Trump said: “I will demand that this incompetent governor allow beautiful, clean, fresh water to FLOW INTO CALIFORNIA! He is the blame for this. On top of it all, no water for fire hydrants, not firefighting planes. A true disaster!”
But it is not clear that the diversion of water that Mr. Trump proposed would have affected the explosion of fires in the Los Angeles area this week, or the ability of the firefighters to battle it.