In January 2025, the statement was widely dispersed on the Web that rescuers could not cope with fires that had hit California - they did not have enough equipment, since most of the fire equipment was transferred to Ukraine. We checked the authenticity of this news.
On January 9, the media and Telegram channels began to publish reports that the Fire Service of Los Angeles transferred its own equipment to the aid of Ukraine, which is why it cannot cope with the fire that spread throughout South California. The news was published by Telegram channels "Sanya in Florida"(454,000 views at the time of writing this analysis),"Solovyov"(221 000),"Ukraine.ru"(143,000),"Leprosy"(113 000), Zergulio (140,000), "Failure"(131 000) and Win/Win (109,000), as well as the media "Moscow Komsomolets","Komsomolskaya Truth","Gazeta.ru","Arguments and facts"And others.
From January 7, 2025 in Los Angeles district Wake up Forest fires that have covered the areas of Pasifik-Paliseids, ITON, Malibu and Santa Monica among other areas. By data authorities, by January 13, the death of 24 people was confirmed, more than 180,000 inhabitants are evacuated. Fire destroyed more than 12,000 buildings, including the houses of Hollywood stars. US President Joe Biden declaredthat fires in Los Angeles are the most large-scale and destructive in the history of California, and promised a comprehensive federal aid to combat the elements and restore the injured areas. They continue to calculate economic damage, but already Assess Ten billion dollars. Despite all the efforts of emergency services, the fight against fire has been going on for a week.
Most of the resources that published the news about the connection between the protracted extinguishing fires in California and the transfer of equipment to Ukraine were referred to Donald Trump - the younger, the son of the elected president of the United States. This statement He made on his blog on the social network X on January 8 at 20:06 Moscow time, reputing the publication of American entrepreneur John Lefera.
It is Lefebvre for the first time wrote On the transfer of equipment to Ukraine in the context of current fires in California-about an hour before Trump Jr. In his blog, he often Calls stop financial support from Kyiv by Washington, calls Ukraine is a corrupt state, and Kamalu Harris, the vice-president of the United States and the rival of Trump Sr. in the recent election-provoking Putin to war.
To his post, Lefevere attached screenshots with headlines of two publications on the sites of California television channels KTLA And KABC, where it was said about the transfer of firewood techniques to Ukraine. However, both materials noted that donations were collected in mid -March 2022, almost three years ago. Then both television channels published appropriate notes on their sites, but Lefevere ignored this.
March 17, 2022 Department of Fire Department of the Los Angeles district released The press release in which I listed the list of things sent to Ukraine: personal protective equipment, hoses, nozzles, helmets, shoes, mittens, medicines and medical equipment. Separately emphasizes that the transmission concerned excess equipment. The donation was disposable, the Department did not report other similar shares. The likelihood that a one -time sending of excess equipment to Ukraine could lead to serious problems with extinguishing fires in California almost three years later, extremely small.
The same press release says that Los Angeles firefighters were not the initiators of the donation-they only joined the national action. Soon after the beginning of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, American firefighter Oleg Skachko from New Jersey Started Collect equipment for their Ukrainian colleagues. The initiative attracted the attention of the whole country, and donations came not only from California, but also from New Hampshire, Arkansas, Texas and other states. In this context, the accusation of the Los Angeles fire department that they handed over the equipment due to an excessive pro-Ukrainian position, which led to problems in the fight against fire, are groundless.
The head of the Fire Service of the Los Angeles County Anthony Marronn really declared the inability to cope with the fires on his own, however, according to him, the difficulty Consistent In the lack of staff, which is why he was forced to seek help from neighboring districts. None of the many publications in authoritative sources covering fires have information about the deficiency of the type of equipment that was transferred to Ukraine in 2022.
Experts as natural factors that prevent firefighters from dealing with fire called Extremely strong winds in conditions of arid climate of California. In January 2025 in this state Fixed The powerful wind of Santa-Ana is a stream of hot dry air, which tolerates dust from deserts, blowing from hills into the valleys. This phenomenon is often observed in winter and contributes to the spread of fires, while making their localization at the same time. This time the wind speed Reached 45 m/s, which corresponds to the second category of hurricanes.
Another problem - Lack of water for extinguishing flame. By words Dzhanis Kinones, the heads of the Los Angeles water resources department, water pipes and tanks did not cope with unprecedented demand, which in 15 hours exceeded the norm four times, and three tanks in a million gallons (3.8 million liters) quickly empty, which caused the pressure. As a result, by the morning of January 8, 20% of hydrants were without water, which significantly complicated the work of firefighters. Experts interviewed by CNN claim that even completely serviceable hydrants would not have coped with fires of this scale.
The statement we are considering widely dispersed among the supporters of the elected President of the United States Donald Trump. In addition to his son and Lefera, a post on a similar topic in X Placed The owner of the social network and a close supporter of the politician Ilon Musk. Millions of views gained and publications some other users.
Trump himself Lost Responsibility for fires to the current American administration and Governor of California, Democrat Gavin Newsoma, accusing They are incompetent and ineffective of management. How Notes Al Jazeera, the elected US president is not the first to use natural disasters for attacks on political opponents. For example, in 2018, speaking about the hurricane "Maria", which fell on Puerto Rico a year before, a politician Unreasonable He stated that the estimate of 3,000 dead was radically overpriced by the Democratic Party. In September 2024, Trump, including dissolving inaccurate information, accused The White House in insufficient assistance to the States affected by Hurricane Helen.
Thus, there is no evidence that the difficulties with extinguishing fires in California are caused by sending the necessary equipment to Ukraine. The Fire Department of Los Angeles donated excess equipment to this country almost three years ago. Also, neither the department itself, nor the leadership of the city in January 2025, did not declare a lack of those types of equipment that were previously transferred to Ukrainian colleagues. Experts attribute a powerful wind, climate drying and the lack of enough staff to combat the elements that make it difficult to work in the reasons for the work of firefighters.
Photo on the cover: Nejc Soklič / Unsplash
- The New York Times. What We Know About the Wildfires Raging in Southern California
- CNN. No Water System in the World COULD HAVE HANDLED THE LA FIRes. How the Region Coold Minimized the Damage
- Al jazeera. Fact Check: La Fires Drive Falsehoods, Including by Trump ABOUT WATER USE
- Is it true that, due to fires in Los Angeles, the Hollywood sign caught fire?
- Russian trace, flooded Disneyland and cloud-pornoactor. Fakes about hurricane "Milton"
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