Musk initially criticized state officials on his social platform X, alleging the LA fire response was hampered by “bad governance at the state and local level that resulted in a shortage of water.”

On Sunday, however, Newsom hit back by posting the final exchange showing Musk discussing the situation with a senior LA firefighter and claiming that: “@ElonMusk exposed by firefighters for his own lies.”

At the beginning of the 13-minute live stream, Musk explained that he had been asked to provide communications support for responding services using his Starlink satellite telecommunications technology. The firefighters give an explanation of their actions to date and the nature of the wildfires.

In the clip shared by Newsom, Musk is seen questioning the firefighter about water supply during the Palisades blaze.

Musk asked: “Was water available? I understand that wasn’t an issue in Malibu, is that correct?”

The firefighter points to a map behind him and calmly explained: “There was water, we have water reservoirs. Just an example, if we have one building burning we can flow 1000 gallons a minute on that one building.”

He continued: “The amount of water we’re flowing, there really is no water system that’s gonna keep that pace, so we have to bring in water tenders, which are these big water tanks, you know, 2500/3000-gallon trucks, and they’ll come in and that’s what we have to do to compensate.”

The firefighter added: “[The Department of Water and Power] did a great job, they brought in big trucks for us and we used them as, basically, mobile hydrants.”

Musk then seeks clarification: “Correct me if I’m wrong, but in Malibu there was no shortage of water, in the Palisades there was a shortage of water at a certain point, or is that not accurate?”

The firefighter explained: “Well, we were flowing an amount of water that the system couldn’t… it was overbearing.”