As Los Angeles firefighters battle ongoing blazes, prominent rightwing figures are spreading bigoted criticism of the response and lies about who is to blame, including that the fire is raging because of diversity within the fire department.
The misinformation echoes the claims that plagued the North Carolina hurricane response. Both disasters led to outrage, which partisan actors seized upon to advance their political goals, muddying the already confusing information ecosystem that accompanies a fast-moving news event.
In what has become a common theme, rightwing media and commentary have said that diversity within the Los Angeles fire departmentis to blame for the devastation.
“Meet Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley,” the X account Libs of TikTok, known for spreading anti-LBGTQ+ rhetoric, posted. “She boasts about being the first female and LGBTQ fire chief in the LA Fire Department. Promoting a culture of DEI is her priority. Does this make you feel safer?” In another tweet, the same account, which has nearly 4 million followers, wrote: “DEI will get people k*lled. DEI must DIE.”
Much of the misinformation also includes claims of mismanagement by the LA mayor, Karen Bass, and the California governor, Gavin Newsom.
The spread of rumors, misinformation and lies can hinder the ability of emergency responders to do their jobs and confuses residents who need accurate, up-to-date information to make choices to keep themselves safe. It also makes it more difficult for people to assess whether accountability is needed for their public officials when lies are commingled with valid criticisms.
False claims of federal disaster relief funds being diverted to migrants have also resurfaced. Criticism of environmental practices, like allegedly protecting fish over people or limiting prescribed burns have been elevated. Unrelated donations to Ukraine became a scapegoat. Donald Trump Jr, the president’s oldest son, intimated that donations the Los Angeles fire department sent to Ukraine in 2022 somehow were related to the response.
People from varying points on the political spectrum, including the Los Angeles Times publisher, Patrick Soon-Shiong, have claimed the fire department’s budget saw big cuts – it did not, Politico notes.
Deflections of the role climate crisis plays in increasing natural disasters have received millions of views.
The Libs of TikTok account laid out a variety of rightwing criticisms in one post on X. “Don’t you hate it when climate change appoints a DEI hire to run the fire dept, gives away fire equipment to Ukraine, stops critical controlled burns, defunds the fire dept, refuses to build more water reservoirs and store water, cancels fire insurance, mismanages forests and brush, and fires firefighters for refusing an experimental vaccine?”
Elon Musk, the owner of X and a frequent spreader of misinformation, claimed: “They prioritized DEI over saving lives and homes.” In a response to Libs of TikTok, he wrote: “Wild theory: maybe, just maybe, the root cause wasn’t climate change?”
Andy Biggs, a Republican congressman from Arizona, told Newsmax that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) diverted money to migrants instead of natural disasters – a claim that was debunked repeatedly during the aftermath of the North Carolina hurricane.
Alex Jones, the man behind Infowars and a prolific spreader of lies, has gone even further, posting erroneously that Joe Biden had grounded firefighting plans and that the fires were being spread “by design” as part of a “globalist plot to wage economic warfare”. Musk responded in a now-deleted tweet with a simple one-word: “True”.
