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A review of last year’s California state budget shows California Governor Gavin Newsom cut funding for wildfire and forest resilience by more than $100 million.
The budgetsigned in June and covering the 2024-25 fiscal year, it eliminated $101 million from seven “wildland and wildfire resiliency” programs, according to a Newsweek report.
The fires in California, responsible for the destruction of more than 10,000 buildings in the city los angeles area, are not yet contained.
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Firefighters battle the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills section of Los Angeles on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Ethan Swope/AP)
Cal Fire had a $5 million reduction in spending on fuel reduction equipment, including funds used to pay for California’s vegetation management work. National Guardthe report notes.
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Other changes:
- Cut $28 million from multiple state preserves that expand wildfire resiliency
- $12 million cut from ‘home hardening’ experiment that would protect homes from wildfires
- $8 million reduction in monitoring and research spending, primarily dedicated to Cal Fire and state universities
- $4 million cut from the forest legacy program, which encourages landowners to manage their properties
- $3 million reduction in funding for an interagency forest data center
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, right, surveys damage in Pacific Palisades with Cal Fire’s Nick Schuler on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, California. (Jeff Gritchen/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
Newsom’s communications director, Izzy Gardon, called the budget cuts a “ridiculous lie,” in a statement to Fox News Digital Friday night.
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“The governor has doubled the size of our fire brigade, built the world’s largest firefighting air fleet and increased the state’s forest management tenfold since taking office,” he wrote. “Facts matter.”
The devastation of the Palisades fire in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Friday, January 10, 2025. (AP Photo/John Locher)
His office attached statistics referencing overall increases in spending and staffing over several years since he took office in 2019, rather than commenting on the most recent cuts.
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Cal Fire did not immediately respond to a request for comment as of 8 p.m. Friday.
