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By James Bickerton
News Reporter
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The 2024-25 California state budget, which Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law in June 2024, slashed funding for wildfire and forest resilience by $101 million as part of a series of cutbacks according to an analysis by the state's Legislative Analyst's Office.
However overall, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE)'s wildfire protection budget has increased sharply from $1.1 billion in 2014 to $3 billion in 2023, much of which took place after Newsom became governor in 2019.
Speaking to Newsweek, a spokesperson for Newsom said that under the governor's "leadership" the CAL FIRE budget had doubled from $2 billion in 2018-19 to $3.8 billion in 2024-25, whilst the department's personnel went from 5,829 to 10,741 over the same period.
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Why It Matters
Since Tuesday Los Angeles has been battling a series of devastating wildfires that have left at least ten people dead and demolished over 10,000 properties across the city.
Prominent Republicans, including Donald Trump, have blamed Newsom for the disaster with the president-elect commenting "it's all his fault," and urging the governor to resign on his Truth Social website. Newsom has been widely tipped as a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination.
What To Know
An analysis of California's 2024 Budget Bill, which covers its budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year, by the state's Legislative Analyst's Office concluded it slashed $101 million from seven "wildfire and forest resilience" programs.
The California Analyst's Office is an impartial body that analyses the economic impact of proposed laws and is overseen by the state legislature's Legislative Budget Committee.
Cuts included a reduction of $5 million in spending on CAL FIRE fuel reduction teams, including funds used to pay for vegetation management work by the California National Guard. This left the total available for this scheme at $129 million.
An additional $4 million was removed from a forest legacy program aimed at encouraging good management practices from landowners whilst $28 million was slashed from funds provided to multiple state conservancies to increase wildfire resilience.
Another $8 million was taken from monitoring and research spending, which had largely been given to CAL FIRE and California universities, whilst $3 million was removed from funding for an interagency forest data hub. A home hardening pilot scheme designed to make homes more resilient to wildfires had its funding cut by $12 million.
However despite the recent reductions the overall amount included in CAL FIRE's standard wildfire protection budget surged from around $1.1 billion in 2014 to $3 billion in 2023, with Politico noting there was a "sharp uptick under Newsom."
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What People Are Saying
In a post on his Truth Social website on Wednesday, Donald Trump said: "One of the best and most beautiful parts of the United States of America is burning down to the ground. It's ashes, and Gavin Newscum should resign. This is all his fault!!!"
Earlier in the day he wrote: "Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way."
Izzy Gardon, Gavin Newsom's director of communications, told Newsweek: "There is no such document as the water restoration declaration, that is pure fiction. The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need."
Governor Gavin Newsom addressed Trump's criticism on Wednesday during an interview with CNN in which he said: "People are literally fleeing. People have lost their lives, kids lost their schools. Families completely torn asunder, churches burned down, and this guy wanted to politicize it. I have a lot of thoughts and I know what I want to say—I won't."
What Happens Next
None of the major wildfires on the northern and western outskirts of Los Angeles have been contained by firefighters according to CAL FIRE, meaning they are likely to keep burning through Friday.
Newsom is likely to face questions about the fire resilience funding cuts he signed off on, though given these were only approved in June 2024 it is unclear what impact they had on the January 2025 wildfires.
Update 1/10/25 10:42 a.m. ET: This story has been updated with 2018-19 and 2024-25 CAL FIRE budget and personnel figures provided by Governor Newsom's office.
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