Republican senators are probing California’s response to the deadly Palisades Fire, after the January catastrophe left 12 dead.
The investigation, led by Republican Florida Sen. Rick Scott, aims to highlight missed opportunities in disaster prevention that may have led to the unprecedented level of death and destruction seen in the January fire —which spanned over 23,000 acres and caused about $25 billion in property damage.
“Why did it happen? Why was it not preventable?” Scott said at a Wednesday news conference. “And then how do you make sure this doesn’t happen again? … That’s the big thing here, because we don’t ever want this to happen again.”
Scott said there was a lack of effective action on the part of local officials in preparing for the fire, drawing on a recent visit to the community with media personality Spencer Pratt, a Pacific Palisades resident whose home was destroyed in the fire.
“There’s almost zero reconstruction,” Scott said. “We went street after street … I think I saw one house being rebuilt.”
“There’s nothing political about this,” Republican Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson said at the news conference. “Let’s find out what happened, let’s expose the truth, no politics involved in this at all.”
Johnson and Scott — as well as Pratt, who joined the senators at the conference — highlighted some mitigation measures that the state should have taken.
“There’s some pretty simple things, pretty low-cost things that could prevent the deaths and prevent literally billions of dollars of damage, and that’s really the purpose of this thing,” Johnson said.
Pratt shared a recent conversation with a Palisades maintenance worker, who argued that for $200,000, the state could have effectively cleared a fire line around the area.
“It would stop the fire from eating and digging in, and it would have given us some time,” Pratt said. “So for $200,000, maybe 12 people are still alive, $50 billion in homes are still there, and, to me, if that’s what we get out of this investigation … it’ll be at least something for the victims.”
“Billions upon billions of federal taxpayer dollars have been directed to California to support fire management and disaster mitigation efforts. Yet, on the day of the Palisades Fire, reservoirs were empty, fire hydrants went dry, and innocent people, including many vulnerable seniors, perished while thousands more lost their homes, businesses, and everything they owned,” stated a Monday press release from the Senate Special Committee on Aging, which Scott chairs and Johnson serves on. “While nothing can undo the damage done by the Palisades fire, they are committed to advocating for the victims, their families, and this community to get answers and make sure this never happens anywhere in our great country ever again.”
Scott said that he is “appreciative” of Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s stated intention to collaborate with the probe, after the governor said in a Monday statement that he “welcomed the congressional attention.”
“We have subpoena power, and I have unilateral subpoena authority,” Johnson said. “I’m hoping everybody will cooperate … but if they don’t, you’ve always got that backstop of compelling testimony, compelling documents, and we’ll do that if we have to.”
“[The investigation] complements the thorough investigations already taking place — including by the federal government, the state, and an independent review by the nation’s leading fire experts,” Newsom noted in his Monday statement. “The facts are undeniable: California mounted one of the most aggressive wildfire responses in American history — deploying 16,000+ first responders and over 2,000 firefighting assets faster and at greater scale than ever before.”
Scott also introduced legislation on Tuesday that aims to provide tax relief for victims of federally declared disasters, such as hurricanes and wildfires, available through the end of 2026.
“It is absolutely heartbreaking to see families of natural disasters – whether that’s hurricanes, wildfires, or massive flooding – who have lost everything and are working hard to get back on their feet,” Scott said in a Tuesday press release. “They need all the support they can get from their federal government, and for years, we have been able to come together to provide common-sense tax relief to victims in a bipartisan effort.”
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