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Last year’s California budget review shows California Governor Gavin Newsom Cut funding for wildfires and forest resilience by more than $100 million.
BudgetThe agreement, signed in June and covering the 2024-25 fiscal year, cuts $101 million from seven “wildfire and forest restoration” projects, Newsweek reported.
California fires destroy more than 10,000 structures in California Los Angeles District, still not contained.
Firefighters battle the Kenneth Fire in the West Hills area of Los Angeles on Thursday, January 9, 2025. (Ethan Swope/AP)
Cal Fire reduces spending by $5 million for fuel reduction team, including money to pay for vegetation management work in California national guardthe report states.
Los Angeles Fire Department sounds alarm as budget cuts impact wildfire response: Memo
Other changes:
- State conservation areas cut $28 million to boost wildfire resilience
- A ‘home hardening’ experiment aimed at protecting homes from wildfires gets $12 million cut
- $8 million in cuts to monitoring and research spending, mostly for Cal Fire and state universities
- $4 million cut from Forest Heritage program, which encourages landowners to manage their properties
- Interagency Forest Data Center funding cut by $3 million
California Governor Gavin Newsom, right, and Nick Schuler of Cal Fire survey damage in Pacific Palisades, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in Pacific Palisades, California. (Jeff Gretchen/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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“Since the governor took office, we have doubled the size of our firefighting force, built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet, and the state has increased forest management efforts tenfold,” she wrote. “Facts matter.”
Destruction from the Palisades Fire occurs on Friday, January 10, 2025, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/John Locher)
The statistics his office attached dealt with overall increases in spending and staffing over the years since he took office in 2019, rather than commenting on recent cuts.
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Cal Fire did not immediately respond to a request for comment as of 8 p.m. Friday.
