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WASHINGTON — President Biden repeated what power utilities say is a false explanation of dry fire hydrants during the ongoing Los Angeles disaster — while defending California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass after Newsom complained to the president about “lies” blaming local leaders for the blazes.
Biden, 82, claimed for a second day Friday that electrical providers cut off power to the pumps that flow water to fire hydrants — even though the area’s power suppliers had insisted that statement wasn’t true.
“I know you’re getting a bad rap about ‘these fire hydrants don’t have enough water in them.’ Give me a break. Give me a break,” Biden said in the Oval Office during a virtual meeting with Newsom and Bass, both Democrats.
“What this is all about is the utilities, understandably, what they did is they cut off power because they’re worried about these high-tension lines coming down and causing more fires, right? And when they do that, guess what? They shut off the power that controls the ability to pump the water,” Biden stated.
“This is complicated stuff. You’re going to have a lot of demagogues out there trying to take advantage of it, but you’re doing the right thing.”
Critics have accused Newsom of mismanaging California’s water supply and slammed Bass’ recent cuts to the city fire budget after emergency responders were rendered powerless to combat multiple major fires earlier in the week.
The disaster zone, including about 10,000 destroyed buildings, is serviced by two electricity providers, Southern Cal Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Both told The Post on Thursday evening that Biden’s explanation of events was flat-out wrong.
“LADWP water pumps and water flows were not affected by power outages,” a spokesperson said, with the entity explaining that, in fact, “the tremendous demand for water in the Palisades, which was four times as much as our normal demand in the area, lowered the water pressure.”
Southern Cal Edison added that “we have had no issues from local water agencies or firefighting agencies in our service area” and that “they are prioritized to remain in service” during emergencies.
Biden’s reference to “demagogues” was a clear attack on President-elect Donald Trump, who has blamed Newsom for failing to ensure adequate water supply to Los Angeles. Bass, meanwhile, has faced withering criticism for making a $17.6 million cut to the fire department budget shortly before the fires, which spread rapidly as she was on a visit to Africa.
Biden also attacked Trump’s criticism of local officials for not better maintaining the hillsides of America’s second-largest city to remove what he described as kindling for the fires.
“We had someone from the other team talking about, ‘Well, we just ought to sweep the forest floor so we have no fires’. Come on, man,” he said.
The outgoing president, who leaves office Jan. 20, spoke after Newsom complained about what he called rampant “misinformation” about the causes of the fires, which have led to at least 10 deaths.
“We’ve gotta deal with this misinformation. There were hurricane force winds of mis- and disinformation, lies. People want to divide this country, and we’re going to have to address that as well.” the governor told Biden.
Stay up to date with the NYP’s coverage of the terrifying LA-area fires
“And it breaks my heart, as people are suffering and struggling, that we’re up against those hurricane forces as well.”
Bass, appearing not to have closely followed Newsom’s remarks, concurred moments later: “The governor mentioned it, let me just repeat, hurricane-strength wind without rain, and that has led to such amazing devastation.”
Neither Newsom nor Bass corrected Biden’s alleged misinformation about electric utilities causing the fire hydrant outages.
