A recent news article covering a coastal fire in Laguna Niguel claimed OCFA sat idly and allowed the flames to develop and spread.

Firstly, I checked the source: “Orange County Register.” They seemed to be generally trustworthy, but with a favor to conservative causes, according to mediabiasfactcheck.com, and with a quick Wikipedia search, I confirmed the fact-checking site was a dependable source.

However, the article claimed Orange County Sheriff’s helicopters were prohibited from self-dispatching water dumping helicopters to assist with fires unless invited by the fire department due to a 2019 policy change; this claim is untrue as the policy change is years old and has long been resolved.

Chief Brian Fennessy and Sheriff Don Barnes–Orange County Fire authorities–said the register “relied heavily on retired OC’s sheriff’s department Stg. Bill Fitzgerald’s opinion.” Moreover, “information on their response to the fire was provided to the register, but much of it was not included in the article,” they stated.

In conclusion, the claims of the article were based on outdated information, which painted a bad light on the efforts of the fire authorities.