They spent 0.3% of the budget on DEI "issues" and there is no evidence that this had any impact on their ability to fight fires. The fact that he was just repeating these MAGA talking points indicates his position. Also, it wasn't a footnote; it got equal billing.

DEI.

https://www.politifact.com/article/2025/jan/17/heres-what-we-know-about-la-fire-departments-dei-e/

Reservoirs:

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/jan/17/jd-vance/fact-check-have-some-california-reservoirs-been-cl/

It’s possible that a local reservoir somewhere in the state has been shut down for several years, but we did not find an example, and President-elect Donald Trump and Vance’s transition team did not provide examples when PolitiFact reached out for comment.

Yeh I bet they didn't.