AP News Heavily Ratioed For Blaming Palisades Fire On Climate Change

The Associated Press published an article titled “Climate Change Contributed to a Week of Wild Weather That Upended Life in the US,” which was heavily ratioed on X for blaming the Palisades Fire solely on “climate change.” 

The journalist behind the article, Melina Walling, who uses the pronouns “she/her,” failed to mention arson reports and the alarming mismanagement of city fire resources by radical far-left Democrats in power, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“Climate change laid the groundwork for California’s megafires,” Walling wrote. 

Walling’s selective reporting, aimed at drumming up climate anxieties among the public to further the left’s climate change agenda, is extraordinarily misleading. 

She failed to mention in her coverage that the Palisades Fire spread so quickly because the Pacific Palisades reservoir, which was supposed to provide water to extinguish the fire, was completely empty. 

“This was supposed to be the water to put out the Palisades fire.”

The FP’s Austyn Jeffs visits the Santa Ynez Reservoir that has reportedly been empty since February 2024. pic.twitter.com/DwO5OrYhWk

— The Free Press (@TheFP) January 11, 2025

JUST IN: The Pacific Palisades reservoir was EMPTY AND OFFLINE when the firestorm exploded, per LA Times

This is CRIMINAL.

The reservoir holds 117 million gallons of water, and would’ve given firefighters ample pressure to effectively fight the blaze.

Overpaid Dept. of… pic.twitter.com/afvRlbLJ73

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 10, 2025

On top of this, she failed to mention the very existence of the countless arson reports. 

On X, Walling’s article was pushed out by AP News’ account, where it was heavily ratioed on Saturday evening. 

X users responded:

Arson and terrorism is NOT climate change.

— Derrick Evans (@DerrickEvans4WV) January 12, 2025

“Climate change?”

Is that why they’re catching people setting fires all over the place on purpose, you disingenuous hacks?

— Mindy MF Robinson (@iheartmindy) January 12, 2025

The face of climate change pic.twitter.com/rXKa7wU1rO

— PNW_Recondo (@PNW_Recondo) January 12, 2025

Actually
Issues with the Santa Inez reservoir, which was supposed to provide water for fighting the Palisades fire, include:

– The reservoir ran out of water very quickly, just 3 hours into firefighting efforts.

– The reservoir normally holds 117 million gallons of water, but… pic.twitter.com/3c26LJXcnc

— Crystal M Stanley (@4freedom1USA) January 12, 2025

Why did you lie again? https://t.co/HpllOrfINx

— Courage Is A Habit (@CourageHabit) January 12, 2025

Trust me bro climate change is real pic.twitter.com/KRTIfHUtM0

— World Hall Of Fun (@WorldHallOfFun) January 12, 2025

Here’s some FACTS to think about (via Alex Epstein from his post ‘Bad Forest Management, and Not Climate Change, is the Root Cause of California Fires‘):

“The solution to dangerous, out-of-control wildfires in California is addressing the root cause: ‘excess fuel load’ from bad forest management. Focusing on climate change, a minor variable that we ‘have no near-term control over, is a craven political ploy…

[T]emperatures have risen 1 degree C in the last 150 years. Is it really possible that that amount of warming makes dangerous wildfires inevitable? No. … The negative effect of rising global temperatures on California wildfire susceptibility in particular is dubious because past centuries had far more fire-prone climates. The Palmer Drought Index shows only a slight increase in California drought since 1900.

“Historical evidence shows us that prior to man-made CO2 emissions CA experienced regular ‘megadroughts‘ that could last over a century. The modern era has been very lush by comparison. Even if CA could lower global CO2 levels we could easily suffer a regional drought…

“The root cause of today’s wildfires is terrible forest management. Policymakers have prevented controlled burns, debris clearing, and logging — jacking up the ‘fuel load’ to incredibly dangerous levels. … The path forward is simple: focus on the main cause, forest management, which is totally within our control. Stop pretending that lowering CO2 levels would bring about some fire-free paradise–and that it is possible near-term. Stop mandating ‘unreliables.’ Decriminalise nuclear.”

As Tom McClintock comments via The Wall Street Journal, bad forest and water management, misplaced priorities and price controls all played a role.

The left blames a changing climate.

But that doesn’t explain California’s long history with massive wildfires, or why fires became less threatening throughout most of the 20th century.

We can find a more likely culprit in the states’ recent extreme environmental and social policies.

…

Environmental leftists promised that laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act, the Wilderness Act and the Endangered Species Act would protect and improve the environment. Fifty years later we’re entitled to ask: How’s it going? Between 2012 and 2021, we lost a quarter of California’s forestland to wildfires. A UCLA study estimated that California’s 2020 fires released twice as much greenhouse gas into the atmosphere as had been prevented by the previous 18 years of primarily government-enforced restrictions.

…

Fire is a condition of nature, but how we deal with it is a choice. The tragedy in Southern California is the result of decades of self-destructive policies made by foolish politicians. We can change the policies that got us into this mess by throwing out the politicians who made them. Let’s hope we do so before the next big fire.

Selective reporting by Walling to further a far-left climate agenda (and providing cover for Democrats in the state) is why trust in media has crashed to record lows.