Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) was recently called out for a false claim he made during an interview on ABC regarding the controversy surrounding an out-of-commission water reservoir in the Palisades that could have housed 117 million gallons of water. Commentators have pointed out that this reservoir could have been a valuable asset in containing the Los Angeles wildfires, but blame the California government for failing to keep it operational.
Early in the fire, reports came in that fire hydrants in Los Angeles ran completely dry, thwarting efforts to fight the raging fires. Inquiring about this issue, an ABC anchor asked Schiff, “Why did some of those are so many of those fire hydrants simply run dry?” Tying it to the empty reservoir, he added, “Was there something to do with that 117 million-gallon reservoir in the Palisades that was out of operation? What’s your understanding? What’s your initial read on this?”
Schiff responded, “Well, my initial take, and I certainly want a full review of this, so that I can form a more complete understanding of the matter.” The senator then claimed the reservoirs were “full” at the beginning of the fires. “But my initial understanding is the reservoirs that the Palisades were drawing on, these 3 million gallon reservoirs, were full of the initiation of these fires,” he said.
He then suggested that the reservoirs would not have been all that helpful given the magnitude of the fires. The California Democrat continued, “But they’re intended, frankly, they have the capacity to put out homes that maybe house multiple houses, not if the whole town is up in flames, and most particularly, not if the winds are so strong that aircraft can’t fly.”
“And this was the problem in the very beginning,” he added. “The winds were hurricane force, up to 100 miles an hour winds, you can’t fly in that and you depend on being able to do water drops to put down those kind of flames. And I have to think there are probably hundreds of towns in California, thousands and thousands across the country, that are in equally the same position that if they mile an hour winds and a lot of dry fuel, they wouldn’t have any any more water than this community did.”
Users were quick to call out Schiff’s claim on social media, offering a different side of the story. The popular conservative account I Meme Therefore I Am, shared the clip, writing, “Adam Schiff went on national television and told the American public another lie, claiming that the reservoirs “were full at the initiation of these fires.””
Alongside the clip of Schiff’s commentary was a screenshot of an NBC News article that contradicted Schiff’s position. The title of the piece read, “Reservoir in Pacific Palisades was out of commission when fires started.” Governor Gavin Newsom has subsequently called for an investigation into what led to Los Angeles’ strained water supplies.
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Watch Schiff below:
I Meme Therefore I Am continued, “A simple Google search reveals there is an ongoing investigation into why the Pacific Palisades reservoir was offline. Additionally, it shows that the Santa Ynez Reservoir had been closed since February for repairs to its cover, leaving the 117-million-gallon water storage complex empty in the heart of the Palisades for nearly a year.”
Note: The featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.