California Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking to the internet to fight wildfire misinformation. CBS News Sacramento investigative reporter Julie Watts and the CBS News Confirmed team have partnered up to fact-check Newsom.

Pacific Palisades

More than a thousand structures have been destroyed and lives lost as wildfires sweep across parts of Los Angeles.

LA Wildfires

Governor Gavin Newsom of California has initiated an effort to confront misinformation regarding wildfires in the state. Utilizing his own fact-checking website, hosted on his personal domain, Newsom aims to counter claims he classifies as lies. Instead of targeting statements made by former President Trump directly, he addresses comments made by people echoing Trump's sentiments. This strategy appears to be a form of social media diplomacy, designed to focus on information spread through various channels.

Certain fact-checks provided by Newsom are straightforward, such as refuting that the Hollywood sign was set ablaze. However, more complex claims require nuanced examination. One significant case involved reports claiming Newsom cut California's fire budget by $100 million before the Los Angeles fires. Newsom called these reports "ridiculous lies." Nevertheless, records indicate that he did cut over $100 million in supplemental wildfire-related funding, although the cuts are deemed unlikely to have affected the fires directly.

The discussion on whether California ran out of water presents another claim addressed by Newsom. Reports surfaced online stating there was no water in Los Angeles fire hydrants due to alleged issues with reservoir refilling. Newsom clarified that reservoirs in California are full and there is no overall water shortage, despite a 117 million-gallon reservoir near the Palisades fire being out of service. L.A. city officials explained that the dry hydrants were due to unprecedented demand which exhausted three one-million-gallon water tanks feeding the hydrants, rather than a shortage of water.



Analyzing Gov. Newsom's fact-checking efforts on wildfires

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Washington

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Kyiv

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Gilimanuk

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Tecoluca

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Manhattan

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Tehran

Iran Strikes

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Lhasa

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Boise

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Madison

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Everglades

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LA Wildfires