‘Green hydrogen bomb woke up’: Historian slams California leaders for ‘senseless’ response to wildfires

There were many things that preceded the “senseless” response by Los Angeles and California state leaders to the devastating fires 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 public policy think tank Hoover Institution, 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” – from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’ absence during the first 24 critical hours of the inferno to empty the fire, a dysfunctional reservoir, a defunded fire department and a lack of new water infrastructure despite the support of Governor Gavin Newsom of billions dollars intended to address.

THE COUNCIL WHERE THE DISTRICT WAS DEVASTATED BY WILD FIRES HOLDS THE LEADERS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE EMPTY RESERVOIRS

Historian Victor Davis Hanson shares his analysis of what went wrong and led to the catastrophic fire management in Los Angeles. (Getty Images)

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

Newsom told NBC News in a pretaped interview that aired on Sunday, “The reservoirs are completely full – the state reservoirs here in Southern California. This mis- and misinformation, I don’t think, benefits or helps any of us” .

But as of Tuesday, Shasta Lake, California’s largest reservoir, was at 77% of capacity, holding 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 the reservoirs can only hold so much water, and many were built in the middle of the 20th century.

In 2014, Golden State voters passed 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 through the construction of new reservoirs and storage facilities underground water. However, as of January, no new reservoirs have been completed under Prop 1.

In 2024, the state had a record rainfall after an atmospheric river event, but the existing water infrastructure faced difficulties in managing the sudden influx of water. A significant portion of that rainfall has been dumped into the ocean as the state struggles to properly store 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 torn. It just didn’t make sense.”

The out-of-order reservoir Hanson referred to, known as the Santa Ynez Reservoir in Pacific Palisades, has been closed for repairs since February due to a tear in its cover, which was designed to maintain water quality. the Los Angeles Times first. reported Tuesday.

FIRST HEARING IN CALIFORNIA’S ‘TRUMP-PROOF’ SPECIAL SESSION CANCELED AS THE PRESIDENT’S DISTRICT HACKED BY WILDFIRES

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was criticized for being on a trip to Africa when the wildfires broke out, while California Governor Gavin Newsom shifted the blame and ordered an independent review of the Department of water and power of Los Angeles. (AP/Getty)

Hanson has a Central Valley a farm that relies on snow melt from the Sierra Nevada, he explained.

In California’s Central Valley, agriculture water typically comes from the Sierra, primarily through the San Joaquin River system, which is backed up by major dams such as Shaver, Huntington, and Pine Flat. That water is often released into the Sacramento River, which flows into the Delta. Despite growing 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 the snow northern California Cascade Range and the northern Sierra, filling the larger reservoirs such as Oroville and Folsom. These reservoirs were designed to store water during wet years, ensuring a stable supply in the middle year and a backup for drought years.

However, California has faced an extended dry spell, 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 all full, but they’re going down at a rapid rate, so it’s not going to stop releases to the ocean,” Hanson said. “They are still, as you and I speak, and they are not pumping 100% of it to the aqueduct, which serves agriculture in Los Angeles.”

Newsom, meanwhile, shifted the blame to local management and ordered an independent review of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

“We need answers to how it happened,” Newsom wrote to the director of the department and the director of Public Works of Los Angeles County on January 10, regarding the reports of the loss of the water

“DEVASTATING”: CALIFORNIA HAD RECORD RAINFALL LAST YEAR, BUT LACKED THE INFRASTRUCTURE TO PRESERVE IT

In this aerial drone photo, the primary pump in the foreground is part of a groundwater recharge project designed to capture excess flow for groundwater storage in Fresno County, California, on 13 of March 2023. (Andrew Innerarity/California Department of Water Resources via AP)

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

The proposed funding would support recovery and cleanup operations, increase fire preparedness and assist in the reopening of schools closed due to the fires. The funding comes 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 was a slight increase in fatalities from the Palisades and Eaton fires burning in Los Angeles Countyaccording to an update Wednesday night from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

The Palisades fire, the larger of the two at 23,713 acres burned as of Wednesday, is 21% 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% contained as of Wednesday evening. 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.