Gov. Newsom cut fire budget by $100M months before lethal California fires
A review of last year's California state budget shows California Gov. Gavin Newsom cut funding for wildfire and forest resilience by more than $100 million.
The budget, signed in June and covering the 2024-25 fiscal year, eliminated $101 million from seven "wildfire and forest resilience" programs, according to a report from Newsweek.
The California fires, responsible for destroying more than 10,000 buildings in the Los Angeles area, are still not contained.
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Cal Fire had a $5 million reduction in spending on fuel reduction teams, including funds used to pay for vegetation management work by the California National Guard, the report noted.
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Other changes:
Newsom's director of communications, 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 firefighting army, built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet and the state has increased the forest management ten-fold since he took office," she wrote. "Facts matter."
His office attached statistics that refer to the overall increase in spending and personnel over a number of years since he took office in 2019, as opposed to commenting on the most recent cuts.
Cal Fire did not immediately respond to a request for comment as of 8 p.m. Friday.