Criswell says Los Angeles area ‘very prepared’ for fires, not prepared for ‘100 mile-an-hour winds’

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Deanne Criswell said in an interview that aired Sunday that the Los Angeles area was “very prepared” for the recent wildfires it has faced, but that it was not ready for “100 mile-an-hour winds.”

“I think that they were very prepared. This is something that they are very used to, they fight fires all the time,” Criswell told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”

“But they have never seen 100 mile-an-hour winds that are fueling the fire, and those winds and that weather condition is what really impacts, you know, where this fire is gonna go, but more importantly, how they’re able to try to contain it in those first few hours and days,” she added.

The recent Los Angeles-area wildfires have devastated the region, destroying property en masse and resulting in the deaths of 16 people as of Saturday. The Palisades Fire was behind five of the deaths, and the Eaton Fire was behind the other 11, according to an update from the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) announced on Sunday an executive order centered on rebuilding from the wildfires.

“I’m worried about issues of rebuilding as it relates to scarcity, as it relates to property taxes, meaning scarcity of resources, materials, personnel. I’m worried about time to getting these projects done,” Newsom said in an interview with NBC News’s Jacob Soboroff on “Meet the Press.”

The executive order includes actions halting environmental regulation in relation “to projects to repair, restore, demolish, or replace property or facilities substantially damaged or destroyed as a result of this emergency” and targeting price gouging.

In her interview on “Face the Nation,” Criswell also said she doesn’t “have any information on the cause” behind the recent wildfires.

“Yeah, I don’t have any information on the cause, and I think that’s certainly gonna be something that’s gonna be, you know, under investigation,” Criswell said.