California Governor Gavin Newsom has launched a special website to counter “misinformation” about the California wildfires, including claims that he cut the state firefighting budget.
“A lot of misinformation out there,” Newsom wrote in a post on Twitter, on Saturday, to announce the launch of californiafirefacts.com.
“Just launched a new site to ensure the public has access to fact-based data around the Southern CA wildfires.”
Newsom went on to make a number of counter-claims in the post promoting the website. He denied the state had cut the firefighting budget and instead claimed he has “nearly doubled the size of our firefighting army and built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet.” He also said the state has increased forest management “ten-fold” during his tenure and said the state would not tolerate looting.
Newsom has been hard-pressed after a series of revelations about cuts to the state firefighting budget. According to Newsweek, Newsom approved cuts totalling $101 million from seven “wildfire and forest resilience” programs.
The reductions were part of last year’s state budget, and were signed into law by Newsom in June.
The cuts included $28 million from state conservancies that increase resilience to wildfires; $12 million from a project to protect homes from wildfires; $8 million from wildfire monitoring and research; $4 million from a forest legacy program that encourages landowners to protect their properties; and $5 million from programs for vegetation management.
There has been an increasing focus on official incompetence and mismanagement in recent days, as contributing factors towards the fires and their spread.
It’s claimed that Los Angeles water chief Janisse Quiñones knew the Santa Ynez Reservoir was empty when the fires broke out and that many fire hydrants in the city were broken.
Nearly 120,000 people have signed a petition calling for LA Mayor Karen Bass to resign.
The petition, launched on change.org last Wednesday, currently has 117,713 signatures at time of writing.
“We, the undersigned residents of Los Angeles and concerned citizens, urgently call for the immediate recall of Mayor Karen Bass due to her gross mismanagement and failure to effectively respond to the devastating 2025 fires in and around the city of Los Angeles,” the petition states.
It’s reckoned that the cost of the fires could exceed $150 billion, making them one of the costliest natural disasters in American history.
On Sunday evening, the Palisades Fire had expanded to over 23,000 acres with 11% containment, the Eaton Fire had reached over 14,000 acres with 27% containment, and the Hurst Fire had reached 799 acres with 89% containment.