The disaster, already regarded as the country’s most costly in financial terms, is also proving costly to political careers. It almost looks like no one is managing the crisis.
Washington | Natural and man-made disasters come in myriad forms, but one thing they have in common is inevitable political fallout, negative and positive.
Think the September 11 World Trade Centre attacks, when the dyed-in-the-wool Democrat city of New York threw its collective support and appreciation behind the then-president, Republican George W. Bush. His polling shot up to 82 per cent from 53 per cent in the 30 days after those famous images of him standing on a pile of rubble in downtown Manhattan surrounded by firefighters.
He burned all this goodwill and good polling, however, with his tardy and ultimately shambolic handling of Hurricane Katrina.
In Australia, various politicians have had their polling and fortunes affected by disasters – natural or otherwise. Scott Morrison’s absence during the devastating east coast fires of 2019-2020 did him no favours.
And while disasters come and go, the political repercussions can reverberate for years, depending on how it’s all managed.
The Los Angeles fires started almost a week ago, and the crisis is still live. But early indications are that the event is not playing out well for California governor Gavin Newsom, city mayor Karen Bass and any number of state and municipal officials.
Recovery in the US’s sprawling second city has not even started, and the fires are still uncontained. It almost looks like no one is managing the crisis.
Appearing powerless while a metropolis burns will ultimately undermine any kudos to be won with the recovery.
Politicians appear powerless
In LA right now, most of those in charge appear to be floundering.
Firefighters on the ground, whose skill involves dousing flames and containing their spread, have been hamstrung by water flow issues. Fire hydrants around the city dried out, allowing the flames and cinders to spread.
Pilots, whose job was to pick up water and dump it on the fires, were grounded at key moments by hurricane-force gusts of up to 160km/h.
Politicians whose jobs are far less practical in times like this also appeared powerless.
Newsom was approached by an angry resident demanding to know why fire hydrants went dry. He said there would be an investigation and quickly tried to focus the attention on recovery.
Bass, who was in Ghana when the fires were out of control, refused on her return to speak to a journalist asking if she had any messages for the citizens of the city. A petition for her removal from office already has 100,000 signatures, among them actor and Trump supporter James Woods.
Even President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump seem relatively powerless to control or curtail the disaster.
Nor are they the only officials under pressure. Janisse Quiñones, CEO of the LA Department of Water and Power – who is paid $US1.2 million ($2 million) a year – oversaw the shutdown and emptying of a reservoir in the Pacific Palisades and was supposed to ensure fire hydrants had been fixed in a timely fashion.
Even President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump seem relatively powerless to control or curtail the disaster. Their time will come with the recovery, but for now, Biden can only release relief funds for the recovery while Trump’s main contribution has been to politicise the catastrophe against Newsom, a favourite target.
Insurers have also shown they have been hamstrung by regulation in offering protection in the lead-up. And, of course, the people of LA, whose houses and loved ones are lost forever, have heart-wrenching stories of utter helplessness as the flames raced towards their properties.
This sense of powerlessness lingers across the city. If resurgent Santa Ana winds fan fresh fires, the actual disaster could drag on for another week.
It’s a safe bet that these LA fires, already regarded as the country’s most costly in financial terms, will also prove costly for the politicians, particularly those with higher career aspirations.
Their power goes only so far when faced with the perfect firestorm.