The focus in California, as crews continue to fight the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles County, must be on the people whose lives have been affected and on putting the fires out, not political arguments, Orange County Fire Authority Capt. Paul Holaday insisted on Newsmax Saturday.
"I believe the government," Holaday told Newsmax's "America Right Now." "I believe everybody is trying to do the right thing and this shouldn't become a political thing."
If there have been matters that have been handled incorrectly, "we should assess that when it's all over," he added, while stressing that now is not the time.
"What we need the most is just [the government's] support," Holaday said. "The people that were affected, the folks that lost their homes, they're going to need some financial support."
Californians are resilient, he added, but it will take a great deal of support from the community and the government at all levels.
"Insurance companies will hopefully do the right thing and pay out their policies, but it's going to take time and people are going to rebuild," said Holaday.
"It's going to take time. It's going to take the support of everybody coming together to rebuild, not throwing blame, not trying to make it a political statement of any kind, but just band together as a country and a community and rebuild."
Orange County has sent 10% of its fire department force to battle the Los Angeles fires, and Holaday said he has seen firsthand the response from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"They are doing their part to assist where they can," said Holaday, adding that the National Guard has also responded.
FEMA has also sent out "the HRT, the human remains dogs, to search for any potential folks that may have perished in their homes," he said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has come under attack from President-elect Donald Trump, on Friday said that one of the biggest issues with the fires is coming from fighting "disinformation."
"People want to divide this country, and we're going to have to address that as well," Newsom said. "You wonder where this stuff comes from."
But Holaday focused on the fires, telling Newsmax that he's been in fire service for more than 20 years and he's "never seen anything like this."
Orange County, in addition to sending more than 125 firefighters, has sent two of its water-dropping helicopters, which have been dropping water throughout the night, said the captain.
"So all of the agencies, not just LA, have pitched in to help," he said. "It's part of our mutual aid system, where if another jurisdiction calls, we send resources to help."
Meanwhile, Holaday said he would not comment about the infrastructure in Los Angeles after reports that fire hydrants were not working, but he did note that there are sea scooper planes that are designed to pick up seawater to dump on the fires.
"There are certain aircraft that are designed to pick up the seawater, but then there are certain aircraft that just aren't. These helicopters are very, very technical pieces of equipment," he said.
"And that corrosive salt water will just destroy their equipment, and that then becomes unsafe for the firefighters in the air flying them. And it's not going to help anybody if our equipment goes down."
He added that the helicopters from his department can pick up fresh water "from anything as small as a backyard poll to a golf course pond," but the fires are making such sources hard to find.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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