Celebrity fitness trainer Jillian Michaels appeared on Fox Business Friday and ripped into California’s state and local officials for their “horrendously” mismanaged leadership during the Los Angeles County fires.
Michaels asked how many people “need to die” for change to occur.
Wildfires raged throughout Los Angeles County, hitting the Southern California coastal town of Pacific Palisades as well as Altadena and Pasadena. Within the first few days of the disaster, residents quickly called out the state’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Residents said Newsom and Bass showed poor leadership and weren’t prepared for the crisis.
On “The Evening Edit,” host Elizabeth MacDonald asked Michaels, who previously lived in Malibu, about how she reacted to the fires. The fitness trainer explained how long it took for emergency crews to respond when the fire first broke out.
“To be fair, I’m equally shocked, but more so outraged, almost to the point of being at a loss for words. The reaction time was not seven minutes. It was actually around 45 minutes. I happened to be exactly where the fire broke out on Sunset and Pacific Coast Highway, working out at the new Equinox there while visiting my mother in California,” Michaels said. “I was at that gym for 30 minutes, and no one showed up while the fire was burning.”
“Now it’s coming out that it was roughly 45 minutes before anyone arrived on the scene. This is the tip of the iceberg when you start to break down how horrendously this has been mismanaged from top to bottom,” Michaels added.
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Newsom and Bass were hit with questions starting Jan. 8. This, after reports revealed fire hydrants had run out of water in Pacific Palisades, leaving firefighters with fewer resources as Bass had cut the Los Angeles Fire Department’s (LAFD’s) budget by $17.6 million for fiscal year 2024-2025, according to Fox News.
Michaels went on to call out new allegations against Southern California Edison (SCE), which is the area’s power utility company. Some Altadena residents have filed lawsuits against SCE.
“Let’s go back in time for a moment here to my fire in 2018. This was caused from a faulty hook on a PG&E, a private utility company’s electric line,” Michaels said. “Since then, nothing has changed. Gavin Newsom let them off the hook, no pun intended. That equipment was over 100 years old. Now the word on the street is that the Eden fire was caused by Southern California Edison’s outdated infrastructure. I can’t wrap my head around this. We’ve seen this happen now year after year after year.”
“How many people need to die? How many lives need to be destroyed? People need to lose their homes, be financially devastated. It’s disgusting and it’s unnecessary. Why are you cutting the fire budget? Why is the reservoir of 117 million gallons, why is it dry? How come you are vetoing bills as the governor of California that would help manage forestry? It was 1AB 2330. I encourage you to look it up,” Michaels said. “That would have facilitated forestry management and helped prevent this kind of madness. The list is so long. I don’t think we have enough time over the course of the remainder of your show to go over all of it.”
In addition to the lack of water in fire hydrants, the Santa Ynez Reservoir, within the Pacific Palisades, was revealed to have been out of commission since February 2024, according to the Los Angeles Times. Due to the closure of the reservoir, the area was left without 117 million gallons of water storage.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screenshot/Fox Business/”The Evening Edit”)
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