Outgoing US president Joe Biden repeatedly told speakers to ‘fire away!’ during a White House breifing on the LA wildfires which are still raging.
The poor remark sparked outrage on social media as the death toll doubled in Los Angeles and 70,000 people were forced to flee their homes.
Biden also blamed local power companies for fire hydrants running dry, an allegation that was quickly rebuffed by both of the area’s electricity providers.
The New York Post reports: Biden, 82, shocked attendees with his choice of words on Thursday given the gravity of devastation caused by the dueling infernos and later applauded California Gov. Gavin Newsom who President-elect Donald Trump blamed for the hydrants running out of water.
“Madam vice president, I know you’re directly affected, so you fire away!” Biden told Vice President Kamala Harris, a California native, who shot a surprised look at the president as he sat next to her at the Roosevelt Room’s board table.
“No pun intended,” he added in response to Harris’ stunned expression.
Yet, moments later, Biden repeated the same eyebrow-raising directive, telling US Forest Service Chief Randy Moore, “Chief, why don’t you fire away?” as multiple fires continued to tear through 30,000 acres across Los Angeles, killing at least five people. (reports say the number of dead has now risen to ten)
The ill-advised wordplay came one day after Biden was blasted for saying “the good news is I’m a great-grandfather as of today” during a visit to a Santa Monica fire station, which critics said was insensitive to the plight of thousands of residents who fled their homes.
The gaffe-prone president also defended Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats, during his Thursday remarks while blaming power utility companies for fire hydrant water outages that left firefighters helpless as thousands of homes burned to the ground.
The commander in chief suggested that power companies shut off power to prevent explosions and additional fires but in doing so, cut off power needed to pump water out of a hydrant.
“What I know from talking to the governor [is] that there are concerns out there that there’s also been a water shortage. The fact is, the utilities understandably shut off power because they’re worried the lines that carry energy were going to be blown down and spark additional fires,” Biden said.
“There’s a direct correlation between the utility company and the ability to pump water out of a hydrant. And so it allows for a lot of uninformed people to make assertions or concerns or accusations about the local officials not caring or not working,” he claimed.
The president said that “the vast majority of the circumstances where the water resource has been diminished is because of the utility company not being able to maintain the electric transmission, because they’re getting knocked down or shutting down so they don’t cause more fires.”
But a spokesperson for Southern Cal Edison — which supplies electricity to the neighborhoods ravished by the blazes — said she could not corroborate the president’s claim that the company caused fire hydrants to run dry.
“We have had no issues from local water agencies or firefighting agencies in our service area,” Kathleen Dunleavy said, noting that she listened to Biden’s remarks and checked with the companies’ teams in the field.
“We coordinate with water districts and fire agencies, and if any issue arises with water service, they are prioritized to remain in service.”
