Newsom says LA blaze is worst natural disaster in US history’ amid criticism

California governor Gavin Newsom admits he wants to know "what the hell happened" to critical water systems as the Los Angeles wildfires devastated the city amid anger from residents over the state’s response.

- GRAEME MASSIE TOM WATLING

Mr Newsom told Pod Save America on Saturday that local leaders in LA had not given him “straight answers” about the devastation caused by the deadly fires, which have left at least 16 dead and more than 12,000 structures turned to ashes.

Mr Newsom has also come under fire from president-elect Donald Trump for the state’s response, which he has rejected as “disinformation” and branded the Republican “delusional”. Mr Newsom was asked on yesterday morning’s Meet the Press on NBC what he hoped to learn from an independent investigation that has been launched.

“The same ones you’re asking. Same ones that people out on the streets are asking, yelling about, ‘What the hell happened? What happened to the water system?’ And, by the way, was it just overwhelmed? That you had so much that was used? We drew it down. Was it pipes? Was it electricity?” he said.

“It was a combination of pipes, electricities and pumps. Was that drawdown impossible because you lost seven-plus thousand structures right here anyway and every single structure we lost had a pipe that was leaking, and we would’ve lost that water pressure anyway?

“Did it contribute in any way to our inability to fight the fire? Or were 99 mile-an-hour winds determinative and there was really no firefight that could’ve been more meaningful? So all of us want to know those answers, and I just don’t want to wait because people are asking me. I want to know those facts. I want them objectively determined, and let the chips fall where they may. This is not about finger-pointing.”