No, California’s smelt fish policy did not lead to the LA wildfires.
Claim
Fact
This is an outlandish connection to make. The policy is not about water availability in Southern California.
First, we should note that state reservoirs in Southern California remain full. The State Water Project has no connection to the fires in Southern California.
The notion that the Delta smelt or environmental regulations impeded firefighting efforts in Southern California has been widely debunked and fact-checked.
These are two separate issues, period.
More Lies ...
California did NOT cut firefighting budgets months before LA wildfires
The number of CalFIRE personnel has nearly doubled since 2019 and their budget has nearly doubled since 2019
False Claim: California isn’t ‘raking the forest’ to control wildfires
The state has now invested $2 billion in managing the forest (AKA “raking the forest”) in addition to the $200 million annual budget.
California did NOT run out of water while fighting the LA wildfires
Water reservoirs in Southern California were at record levels. There was no shortage of water in Southern California.