Socialist California ABANDONED LA residents with disastrous wildfire response
From failing to clear brush to not emptying reservoirs and dams, the terrible emergency response shows local authorities did not care enough to adequately prepare.
From Maui to Los Angeles to Jasper, each natural disaster showed government failing to adequately safeguard its citizenry. Rebel News spoke with Joel Pollak, senior editor-at-large for Breitbart News, whose home in the Pacific Palisades escaped ruin—though thousands of others weren't so lucky.
Pollak remembers frantically writing his wife to pack their bags as the local authorities were going to evacuate residents. "I knew from past experience with reporting on fires that this was a close fire," he said. Admittedly, he didn't expect the fire would actually reach their community.
"We packed up in 15 minutes and managed to avoid the traffic jam that was building up on Sunset Boulevard."
WATCH: Breitbart reporter Joel Pollak shares with President Trump how he heroically battled the wildfire at his home in Pacific Palisades, he exposes the problems that led to the LA fires, and he requests that a Special Master would be appointed to watch the money so that the… pic.twitter.com/CtY2VfPvSf
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) January 25, 2025
Had they been caught in traffic, they, like so many others, would have been forced to flee on foot.
"That traffic jam became a major problem about half an hour later when residents were stuck," Pollak said. As the smoke encroached, people abandoned their cars. "They blocked the roads, [forcing] the fire department to bring a bulldozer to move the cars out of the way."
Moreover, Pollak says recent debate on brush clearance will remain a hot topic moving forward, as the City of Los Angeles contends with a massive fallout.
From failing to clear brush to not emptying reservoirs and dams, the terrible emergency response shows local authorities did not care enough to adequately prepare.
Listen to my articulate neighbor rip into the politicians who held a press conference while the neighborhood was burning, and into the lack of preparedness and communication among city agencies. Sad to report his building burned down. It was such a beautiful place. #PalisadesFire pic.twitter.com/zvgN6rLKGW
— Joel Pollak (@joelpollak) January 9, 2025
"The wind was extreme—not just an ordinary Santa Ana," Pollak said. "It was amplified by the jet stream and blew flaming embers through the neighborhood," destroying 80% of homes, many of whom lost their insurance in the days before the fire.
Of his neighbors who lost their fire insurance, he lays the blame at California capping insurance rates, forcing insurance companies to go out of business.
Pollak and his family remain in Santa Monica to this day with rebuilding efforts slated to take years for the Pacific Palisades community. He says without "neighbors helping each other" as well his Ficus trees acting as a wind barrier, his family home also would have been lost.
Ezra Levant
Rebel Commander
Ezra Levant is the founder and owner of Rebel News and the host of The Ezra Levant Show. He is the author of multiple best-selling books, including Ethical Oil, The Libranos, China Virus, and most recently, Trudeau's Secret Plan.
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COMMENTS
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Bruce Atchison commented 2025-02-10 23:06:58 -0500Bureaucracy always gets in the way. I know that bureaucrats must go by directives handed down from on high. My impression is that they wouldn’t even use the washroom unless there was a directive allowing them to do so. FEMA needs a good purging of dead wood which clogs up their response to disasters.
Republicans will doubtless miss a golden opportunity to capitalize on FEMA’s slow response. Californians must realize that Democrats and their dead-end policies are retarding prosperity and driving entrepreneurs out of the state. Economics isn’t rocket science. Increase competition and prices go down. Cut needless regulations and the economy flourishes. How much more simple must it be for them to understand that free enterprise must be freed to operate for the benefit of all.
