CA Fires: Newsom Cut Roughly $150 Million From Wildfire Prevention Budget In The Past

 The deadly and calamitous Southern California fires have precipitated much harsh criticism of the state’s lack of effort to confront the ever-present danger of wildfires.

What follows is a compendium of information that may prove useful in understanding where the state is vis-à-vis water and why California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom’s policies have elicited criticism.

In 2021, an investigation by CapRadio found that Newsom had “misrepresented his accomplishments and even disinvested in wildfire prevention. The investigation found Newsom overstated, by an astounding 690%, the number of acres treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns in the very forestry projects he said needed to be prioritized to protect the state’s most vulnerable communities.”

“Data obtained by CapRadio and NPR’s California Newsroom show Cal Fire’s fuel reduction output dropped by half in 2020, to levels below Gov. Jerry Brown’s final year in office,” the investigation noted. “At the same time, Newsom slashed roughly $150 million from Cal Fire’s wildfire prevention budget.”

Newsom’s cut to wildfire prevention came after President Trump blasted him in 2019, writing on social media, “The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must ‘clean’ his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers. … Every year, as the fire’s rage & California burns, it is the same thing-and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor. You don’t see close to the level of burn in other states.”

According to U.S. Drought Monitor, the Los Angeles area is in a “severe drought” spell, which means, among other things, that it is suffering from a fire season that is longer, with high burn intensity, dry fuels, and large fire spatial extent, as well as low reservoir levels.

 

Newsom’s office claimed, in response to criticism from President-elect Trump, “Broadly speaking, there is no water shortage in Southern California right now, despite Trump’s claims that he would open some imaginary spigot.”

In 2020, Trump signed a memorandum that would have brought more water to Southern and Central California. California then sued, claiming that the reports used by federal agencies to justify the plan “run counter to the scientific evidence that was before the agencies” and didn’t take into account the potential harm to delta smelt, chinook salmon, and steelhead trout.

“About 30 percent of California’s total annual water supply comes from groundwater in normal years, and up to 60 percent in drought years,” The Water Education Foundation explained. Since the 1960s, Southern California has used recycled wastewater to replenish groundwater supplies, according to Cal Matters.

Southern California could use rainwater and spillover from sprinklers that heads to rivers or the ocean to improve water supply. “The state’s urban areas shed 770,000 to 3.9 million acre feet of runoff a year that could be captured, according to the Pacific Institute. That’s enough to supply between 2.7 and 13.7 million households for a year,” Cal Matters noted.

Because of the fire in Pacific Palisades — the most destructive fire in Los Angeles history — and the desperate need for water to fight the blaze, the water quality is decreasing, according to Janisse Quiñones, the chief executive officer and chief engineer of Los Angeles’ Department of Water and Power. “Because we’re pushing the water system so hard, our water quality is decreasing,” Quiñones said. “We have a lot of ash in our system.”

Los Angeles’ NotifyLA System alerted Palisades residents and those of adjacent communities:

The unprecedented demand for water in the Pacific Palisades over a sustained period for firefighting efforts has resulted in significant low water pressure in your area. As is common in many wildfire situations, this reduces water quality and can pose a health risk.

The three water tanks — each which stores roughly one million gallons of water —  that feed the fire hydrants in the Pacific Palisades area went dry Wednesday morning in the midst of the raging fire because they need to maintain enough pressure for water to travel uphill to the hydrants. The pressure had decreased due to heavy water use for fighting the fires.

In September 2020, Newsom posed for a photo-op with then vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris to push their climate change agenda. The photo was taken on the property of a family from Auberry, California whose home was devastated by a wildfire. The homeowner’s grown children said they had not been allowed to visit their home as it was under an evacuation order and added that Harris and Newsom had not gotten permission to be on their property when they took the photos.

The homeowner’s son, Trampas Patten, excoriated Harris and Newsom on Facebook, writing:

For the friends of mine that don’t recognize the fireplace in the background, that is what is left of my parents house! What has me really frustrated right now is the fact that these two politicians used my parents loss for a photo opportunity to push their political agenda! Political party wouldn’t have made a difference in this moment. Decent human beings that have character and class, wouldn’t air someone else’s misfortune on national television! Think about this when you go to the polls in a few weeks to vote. Look at this picture closely, imagine it is what is left of your hard work, hopes, dreams, place of sanctuary. Do you want this kind of leadership, using you and your loss for political gain?!