Los Angeles wildfires: Who’s been blamed for response shortcomings?
The official cause of the deadly Los Angeles wildfires, fuelled by powerful winds and drought-like conditions, is yet to be determined.
But with the blazes still raging, causing devastation that has seen hundreds of homes destroyed and at least 16 people killed, who has been blamed over shortcomings in the response?
Donald Trump leads fierce criticism
President-elect Donald Trump was quick to point the finger at Joe Biden and California’s governor Gavin Newsom – a Democrat he refers to as “Gavin Newscum”.
LA fires latest: Looters dress as firefighters
He blamed water conservation priorities, including those related to the endangered Delta smelt fish, for causing hydrants to run dry in parts of Los Angeles.
“It’s a mistake of the governor, and you can say the administration,” he said.
“They don’t have any water. They didn’t have water in the fire hydrants.
“The governor has not done a good job.”
Resident berates Newsom
Without specifically naming Mr Trump, Mr Biden reacted to the claim during a briefing at the White House, passing the question to his deputy energy secretary David Turk.
He explained why power lines were shut down in the fire and how that impacted hydrants, saying it was down to a power and pressure issue.
Hydrants need power to pump water up, he said, but during times of disaster power lines are cut to curb the risk of power surges and line breakdowns.
Mr Trump went as far as to call Mr Newsom and LA mayor Karen Bass’ leadership “gross incompetence” and blamed them for “a total wipeout” in Los Angeles.
He said in a social media post: “This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?”
California governor hits back
Mr Newsom, who has also been the target of criticism from residents hit by the devastating wildfires, has invited Mr Trump to survey the area and meet those affected, but said the president-elect has not yet responded.
LA mayor Karen Bass speaks to the media
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In an interview with Sky News’ US partner network NBC, he took aim at those “creating a crisis” by taking “cheap political shots” and criticised the spreading of “mis and disinformation”.
“Somehow connecting the Delta smelt to this fire, which is inexcusable because it’s inaccurate – also incomprehensible to anyone that understands water policy in the state,” he said.
Trump claimed policies related to the endangered Delta smelt fish affected how much water could be pumped out of its habitat.
He also criticised what he said was Mr Trump’s suggestions he would withhold aid for California wildfires, saying he was “threatening the first responders”.
Mr Newsom has called for an independent investigation into the issues of water pressure and supply but insisted it was “not about finger pointing”.
LA mayor under fire
Asked if he had faith in the LA mayor, Mr Newsom did not back her by name but said he had “absolute faith in our community, adding: “I have faith in our leaders. I have the faith of our capacity to work together.”
More than 90,000 people have signed an online petition calling on Ms Bass to resign, accusing her of a “failure” to respond to the fires gripping the city.
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley. File pic: AP
The city mayor, who was on a visit to Ghana when the fires broke out, is also facing fierce criticism for $17.8m (£14.5m) in budget cuts for the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Fire chief embroiled in political row
Fire chief Kristin Crowley said they had “negatively impacted” her team’s ability to tackle the fires.
She told CNN “the fire department needs help” and there are not enough staff or fire stations, and in an interview with KTTV when asked if the city had failed the LAFD she responded, “yes”.
Ms Bass has denied that the reduction had an impact on firefighting efforts during this week’s crisis and sought to ease the tension amid rumours Ms Crowley would be sacked.
“The fire chief and I are focused on fighting these fires and saving lives, and any differences that we might have will be worked out in private,” Ms Bass said at a news conference.
Ms Crowley, who is gay and the city’s first female fire chief, had herself been swept into the national political debate with conservatives claiming diversity, equity and inclusion policies have gone too far in US institutions.
She has made diversifying the overwhelmingly male department a priority, but there’s no evidence that her efforts have hampered the fight.
A senior Hamas official has confirmed the militant group is in direct talks with the United States over peace in Gaza, adding that it believes Donald Trump can help broker a deal.
Speaking to Sky News’ lead world news presenter Yalda Hakim, Dr Basem Naim said Hamas has shared its proposed agreement both through mediators and “directly with some persons in the US administration”.
They are calling for “a prisoner exchange, total withdrawal of Israeli forces, allowing all the aid to get into Gaza and rebuilding of [the] Gaza Strip without forceful immigration,” he said.
Basem Naim
Dr Naim also addressed whether Hamas – which has been in power since it won the 2006 Palestinian election – could step down from government in order to secure peace.
“We have also told the Americans, we are ready to, again, to hand over the government immediately if we reach an end of this war,” he said.
Trump, seen here at a US airbase in Qatar, is on the final day of a Middle East tour
Dr Naim added Hamas has “accepted” an Egyptian peace proposal which “is talking about forming a Palestinian, independent, politically unaffiliated body to run the Gaza Strip”.
“Before that, as long as we are still occupied people, we have all the right to continue defending our people and resisting the occupation with all means including under resistance,” he said.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Turning his attention directly to the US president, the senior Hamas official said he thinks Mr Trump “has the capability and the will to reach this peaceful situation”.
He said: “Gaza and Gazans are deserving, like all other people everywhere, to live in peace and dignity.
“And I think President Trump can do it if he exercises enough pressure on the Israelis to end this war immediately. And we are ready to cooperate with him to achieve this goal of a more peaceful region.”
Responding to the interview with Hamas, White House National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt told Sky News that Hamas “has not demonstrated they are serious about peace” and that Mr Trump “has been clear Hamas must lay down their arms”.
“Hamas continues to wrongfully hold hostages, including American bodies, in the dungeons of Gaza who could easily be freed and have shown no changes in behaviour to indicate they will cease to attack civilians,” he added.
Hamas has set out ceasefire conditions – but Trump remains as stern as ever
Donald Trump’s Middle East tour has been full of surprises.
But the revelation that officials in his administration are speaking directly to Hamas is one of the most significant.
As the US president addressed troops at the Al Udeid airbase in Qatar – the largest in the region – I sat down with a senior Hamas official who confirmed direct talks were ongoing.
In an exclusive interview, Dr Bassem Naim praised Trump and talked up chances of finding a peaceful resolution.
It’s a remarkable statement from a senior figure within the group, which is considered by the US and UK to be a terrorist organisation.
Much has been made of Trump’s ‘transactional’ approach here in the region.
His commitment to the ‘art of the deal’ can often achieve unexpected results but also anger his allies – which is almost certainly the case with Israel’s embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
When I asked Dr Naim about the demands from Israel and the United States for Hamas to disarm and accept that it can no longer be the governing force in Gaza, he set out conditions that Hamas says would have to be met.
However, President Trump’s public stance on Hamas remains as stern as ever.
The group “needed to be dealt with” he said earlier, adding he has “concepts for Gaza,” and that the US should “take it” and turn it into a “freedom zone”.
Israel’s war in Gaza has now entered its 20th month with more than 53,000 people believed to be dead, according to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Some 15,000 of them are children, according to UNICEF.
There are still more than 50 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in the Strip.
In a statement released on Thursday, Hamas highlighted the fact it recently released hostage Edan Alexander, an Israeli soldier with American citizenship.
It continued: “We expect, based on the understandings reached with the American side, and with the knowledge of the mediators, that humanitarian aid should have entered the Gaza Strip immediately, a call been made for a permanent ceasefire, and that comprehensive negotiations would have been held on all issues to achieve security and stability in the region, a goal we aspire to achieve.
“However, failure to achieve these steps, especially the entry of humanitarian aid to our people, will cast a negative effect over any efforts to complete negotiations on the prisoner exchange process.”
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Analysis: Israel’s escalation in Gaza
The US president has previously shared plans of his own for Gaza and in February, he posted a bizarre AI video showing the region transformed into a paradise complete with its own Trump tower and exotic beaches.
The States could “own that piece of land” and develop it, he said – but the idea was swiftly condemned as the effective “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians from Gaza.
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Moment of Israeli strike on house
Mr Trump is currently on a visit to the Middle East, which has included stops in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia – but not Israel.
There had been hopes his trip could lead to a ceasefire deal, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has pushed ahead with an escalation of force on the Gaza Strip.
Israel has this week launched airstrikes on two consecutive nights while continuing to block aid for the region, worsening the humanitarian crisis.
Watch the full interview with Dr Basem Naim from 9pm this evening on The World With Yalda Hakim on Sky News
The co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s has been arrested after disrupting a Senate hearing with a pro-Gaza protest.
Ben Cohen, Ben of the famous ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s, was one of seven people arrested at a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing on Wednesday, Sky News’ US partner NBC News reported.
Robert F Kennedy Jr was speaking to the committee when the protests started with someone shouting: “RFK kills people with AIDs!”
“When Bobby lies, children die,” is also heard, as well as: “Anti-vax, anti-science, anti-America” in reference to Mr Kennedy’s vaccine views.
Police quickly flooded into the room and began dragging out protesters.
Moments after, Mr Cohen got to his feet and accused the US government of playing a role in the deaths of children in Gaza.
The ice cream boss can be seen in footage of the incident on his feet, gesturing as he shouted at the US health secretary.
“You’re killing poor kids in Gaza and paying for it by cutting Medicaid for kids here,” shouted Mr Cohen.
He is one of the last protesters hauled out of the room.
But even as he’s removed, he can still be heard shouting.
“Congress and the senators need to ease the siege. They need to let food into Gaza. They need to let food to starving kids,” he said.
Mr Cohen was dragged out along with a number of other protesters.
Pic: Reuters
The other six protesters were charged with resisting arrest and assault on an officer, NBC News said.
Earlier on Wednesday, Mr Cohen had attended a pro-Palestine event with Democratic Representative Rashida Tlaib.
Afterwards, Mr Cohen tweeted out a video of the incident, saying: “I told Congress they’re killing poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs, and they’re paying for it by kicking poor kids off Medicaid in the US.
“This was the authorities’ response.”
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Mr Cohen is no stranger to protests or getting arrested.
In July 2023, he was arrested after protesting about the US prosecution of Julian Assange.
‘Poor kids in Gaza’
Israel has killed around 53,000 Palestinians during its war with Hamas, many of them women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
The Gaza health ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in its count, but said that more than half of the fatalities are women and children.
It is said the real death toll in Gaza is higher because thousands of bodies remain buried under the rubble or in areas that medics cannot access.
Ben Cohen, of Ben & Jerry’s.
File pic: AP
The fighting began after the militant group led an attack across the border in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.
Since Israel broke a ceasefire on 18 March, almost 3,000 people have been killed, the ministry said.
The Israeli military has claimed, without evidence, to have killed 17,000 militants.
Three climbers have died after they fell hundreds of feet on to jagged rock, while the survival of one man in the group is being called “miraculous”.
Vishnu Irigireddy, 48, Tim Nguyen, 63, Oleksander Martynenko, 36, died while climbing down a steep gully on the 7,800ft Early Winters Spire peaks in Washington state on Sunday.
Their fall was likely caused by a “weathered” piton, which is a metal spike serving as an anchor used to slow the descent down a steep mountainside, tearing from the rock, the Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office said.
The fourth climber, Anton Tselykh, 38, from Seattle, miraculously survived, despite also plummeting 200ft on to jagged rock and tumbling another 200ft before coming to rest in a tangle of ropes and climbing equipment.
Rescuers near where the climbers were found. Pic: Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office/AP)
He suffered internal bleeding and severe head trauma, which caused him to pass out until around 10pm, hours after the estimated time of the fall, police said.
He managed to untangle himself before “crawling and feeling around in nearly pitch darkness” to find his way back to his car, Okanogan County Undersheriff David Yarnell told Sky News’ US partner NBC News.
Mr Tselykh drove west over the mountain range and collided with a guardrail on the way, falling unconscious, before finally reaching a pay phone to call for help.
His survival “is miraculous to say the least,” Mr Yarnell said.
Mr Tselykh is being treated in a Seattle hospital and is in “satisfactory condition”, according to a hospital spokesperson.
The bodies of the three climbers have been recovered. Pic: Okanogan County Sheriff’s Office/AP
The bodies of the three climbers have since been recovered, locating them via a GPS device in their kit.
Police said the three men had suffered massive leg and cranial traumas.
Authorities believe the group had been ascending the north Early Winters Spire peak when they decided to reverse course due to an approaching storm.
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The Early Winters Spires in the Northern Cascades consist of two 7,800ft peaks, which are popular with climbers.
The route the group was taking was of moderate difficulty and sees climbers moving between ice, snow and rock, according to a local guide, who cautioned that conditions can change rapidly depending on the weather.
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