As Southern California fires rage, Gavin Newsom cancels DC trip and declares state of emergency

Lia Russell, The Sacramento Bee on Jan 8, 2025

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California Gov. Gavin Newsom canceled a planned trip to Washington, D.C., citing the ongoing Los Angeles-area wildfires that have so far claimed two lives and destroyed over 1,000 structures.

Newsom had planned to travel to the capital to attend a memorial service Thursday for former President Jimmy Carter, who died Dec. 29 at 100. The Governor’s Office confirmed Wednesday that he canceled that trip. Newsom told reporters earlier this week he also planned to lobby officials to approve federal funding and waivers for California before President Joe Biden leaves office.

The governor declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles County on Tuesday night as firefighters battled four blazes near Pacific Palisades and Pasadena, which have prompted evacuations for more than 30,000 people.

“This is a highly dangerous windstorm that’s creating extreme fire risk — and we’re not out of the woods,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re already seeing the destructive impacts with this fire in Pacific Palisades that grew rapidly in a matter of minutes.”

Newsom, Biden briefed in Southern California

Newsom appeared Wednesday with President Joe Biden and Sen. Alex Padilla at Santa Monica Fire Station No. 5, where officials briefed them on firefighting efforts and evacuations.

“Thank you for being here since the beginning,” Newsom told Biden. “It means the world to us.”

Newsom appeared Tuesday with firefighters at the Palisades Fire after his planned meeting with Biden was scrapped when wind conditions prevented Air Force One from landing in the Coachella Valley. Instead, Biden landed at LAX.

The leaders had planned to meet in the high desert to celebrate Biden’s declaration naming the Chuckwalla and Sáttítla national monuments, which set aside nearly 850,000 acres of tribal lands for ecological and cultural protection.

California also secured Fire Management Assistant Grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fight the Palisades, Hurst and Eaton fires, Newsom said Wednesday. The requests, which were approved, came after Newsom and state emergency officials had prepositioned more than 60 local fire engines and multiple Cal Fire strike teams to prepare for the anticipated fire suppression efforts. Sacramento-area firefighters were among those on the front lines Wednesday morning.

“We are working vigorously to ensure maximum support for firefighting efforts in Los Angeles,” Newsom said in a statement. “Thank you to all our firefighting personnel and first responders protecting Californians in harm’s way.”

As of Wednesday morning, over 5,700 acres had burned from the fires, according to Cal Fire, which have been stoked by strong Santa Ana winds and a lack of rainfall across the south state.

Dangerous wind conditions are expected to continue across portions of Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Diego, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, the National Weather Service said, with some gusts in the San Gabriel and Santa Susans mountains expected to reach 100 mph.

Trump weighs in on wildfires

In a Truth Social post, President-elect Donald Trump blamed the fires on Newsom not signing a “water restoration declaration” that he said would have allowed the state to preserve water resources. The governor’s office called it “pure fiction.”

“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,” Trump wrote. “Now the ultimate price is being paid.”

Newsom’s office said in response: “The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”

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