Is there evidence that California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered firefighters not to use Starlink modems while battling wildfires in the Los Angeles area in January 2025? No, that's not true: Newsom denied it in a post on X. Any firefighter who needs a Starlink device can get one through the Los Angeles City Fire Department Foundation, a Palisades Fire spokesperson told Lead Stories.
The claim originated in a Substack column (archived here) on January 14, 2025, with the headline "Exclusive: Source Claims Newsom Confiscated Starlink Modems From Firefighters Amid Wifi Outage During LA Wildfires."
The subhead was:
Our power and phone lines were down. The internet, a lifeline in disaster response, was suddenly cut off, leaving us completely isolated and hindering our ability to carry out our duties effectively
Here is how the post looked at the time of writing:
(Source: Substack screenshot taken on Thu Jan 16 16:41:18 2025 UTC)
The column quoted an anonymous veteran of the Los Angeles County Fire Department complaining that free Starlink modems distributed by a representative of Elon Musk (archived here) had been ordered "confiscated" by Newsom (archived here):
"Our battalion chief told me, 'The governor got into town and ordered us to confiscate the free modems,'" the firefighter said. "I asked why, and he said, 'It's politics. They don't like each other.'"
A second post quoting another anonymous firefighter appeared on X (archived here) on January 15, 2025. In this version (see the transcript in the post), Newsom was said to have ordered the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) to return all donated Starlinks:
The Cal Fire guys that were getting starlinks at the command post were ordered to give them back.
Neither post included any evidence to confirm the anonymous firefighters' comments.
In a phone interview with Lead Stories, Palisades Fire Public Information Officer Melanie Miller said that all donated Starlink devices were sent to the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation (archived here) because, as a charity, it is better positioned to accept goods or services donated to state or local government:
What happened is CalFire is not allowed to accept any donated goods or services. LA City Fire Foundation is. So the Starlinks were given to them and that's where they were accepted. Firefighters can request them there and they are being distributed to anyone who needed it. We have 5,200 personnel assigned to the incident. With so many personnel I can see how misinformation can happen. Can't say if any Starlinks were actually confiscated from fire personnel, how many there are or if they've all been distributed, but the governor did not order them confiscated.
On January 14, 2025, Newsom denied on his X profile (archived here) that he confiscated any Starlink modems:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Thu Jan 16 19:38:07 2025 UTC)
Lead Stories sought comment from the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation and will update this fact check when a response is provided.
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For more Lead Stories fact checks on claims involving the Los Angeles wildfires, click here.
For more Lead Stories fact checks on claims involving Elon Musk, click here.
For more Lead Stories fact checks on claims involving Gavin Newsom, click here.
