California Governor Gavin Newsom slashed the state firefighting budget by $100 million just months before the devastating wildfires ravaging the Los Angeles area, which so far have killed more than a dozen people and may cost upwards of $150 billion.
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.
In response to the revelations, Newsom took to Twitter to claim that he had in fact increased state funding to fight wildfires.
“A ridiculous lie,” wrote Newsom.
“We have doubled the size of our firefighting army, built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet, and increased the forest management ten-fold since taking office.
“Time to serve these folks the facts.”