California Governor Gavin Newsom has launched California Fire Facts, a new webpage to combat misinformation and debunk rumours about the Los Angeles fires. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer quite as much clarity as it could.
False and misleading information about the L.A. fires has swiftly been circulating on social media, with many users pointing fingers and attempting to assign blame for the disaster. At least 24 people have been killed in the fires so far, while more than 12,000 buildings have been destroyed.
One of the most persistent rumours circulating about the L.A. fires is that millions of dollars was cut from the fire department’s funding months prior to this crisis. Responding to such reports, the California Fire Facts website states that “the number of CalFIRE [California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection] personnel has nearly doubled since 2019 (from 5,829 to 10,741),” and that “CalFIRE’s budget has nearly doubled since 2019 ($2 Billion to $3.8 Billion).”
Though the numbers don’t line up perfectly, such increases are somewhat corroborated by California’s Legislative Analyst’s Office (LAO). The LAO is a nonpartisan organisation which offers independent analysis of California’s state budget as well as fiscal and policy advice to lawmakers. It states that CalFIRE was allocated $2.525 billion and authority for 7,182.5 personnel in the 2018-19 budget, while the 2024-25 budget gave it $4.249 billion and authority for 12,511.5 personnel.
However, this doesn’t actually address the information Newsom’s trying to debunk. Specifically, California Fire Facts doesn’t directly tackle the allegation that the state cut $100 million from the fire budget just last year, focusing instead on its history since 2019.
It makes sense that Newsom would opt for clear, straightforward messaging in order to reach as many people as possible. But with no explanation or sources, it seems unlikely that California Fire Facts’ current iteration will significantly ease speculation or the spread of rumours.
California’s $100 million wildfire funding ‘cut’, explained
Credit: Josh Edelson / AFP via Getty Images
Newsweek reported last week that an analysis by the LAO found Newsom’s 2024-25 state budget had reduced funding for wildfire and forest resilience by $101 million. This may sound damning, but LAO’s Environment and Transportation Deputy Legislative Analyst, Rachel Ehlers, explained to Mashable that the situation is not quite so straightforward.
Ehlers clarified that the LAO report Newsweek referenced was a summary of Newsom’s proposed 2024-25 budget, rather than the one which was actually implemented. Though this proposed budget did suggest a $101 million reduction to California’s wildfire funding, this cut would have come from a special $2.4 billion package of one-time wildfire funding which had been previously agreed upon. This Wildfire and Forest Resilience Package is to be spread across four years.
The 2024-25 budget that was ultimately passed actually reduced the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Package by $144 million — $43 million more than Newsom had proposed. Ehlers noted that such changes were made to address California’s $55 billion budget deficit, and were needed for the state to pass a balanced budget.
However, even this larger $144 million cut still left California’s wildfire funding higher year on year, merely reducing extra funding that had been planned.
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“To underscore: these were reductions to one-time augmentations, not reductions to CalFire’s ongoing base programs and funding,” said Ehlers. “[M]ost of these reductions were to planned augmentations to departments other than CalFire, such as for forest and fire resilience activities on state-owned land at state conservancies and parks.”
Credit: Benjamin Fanjoy / Bloomberg via Getty Images
The largest cut was to the Department of Conservation’s biomass to hydrogen/biofuels pilot, which will now receive $5 million in the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Package instead of $50 million. While CalFIRE’s share of the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Package was reduced by $30 million across various programs, it will still receive $1.73 billion of the additional funding.
LAO estimates that total CalFIRE expenditure has grown from $2.74 billion in the 2019-20 fiscal year to $4.43 billion in 2023-24 (not adjusted for inflation). In 2024-25, $4.59 billion has been spent to date, however this does not yet include additional costs associated with the L.A. wildfires.
“This action does not reflect a year-to-year cut from 2023-24 to 2024-25,” said Ehlers, speaking on the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Package’s reductions. “What this reflects is a $144 million reduction from a cumulative $2.8 billion in planned one-time surplus allocations that were going to be provided over four years to a variety of departments for a variety of wildfire and forest resilience activities [emphasis original].”
Did L.A. Mayor Karen Bass cut the LAFD’s funding by $17.6 million?
Credit: David Swanson / AFP via Getty Images
Some attention has also been drawn to L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who has been accused of cutting the Los Angeles Fire Department’s (LAFD) funding by $17.6 million.
The LAFD was given a budget of $819.6 million for the 2024-25 fiscal year, down $17.6 million from the previous year’s allocation of $837.2 million. Both these figures were increases from Bass’ initially proposed budgets of $814.3 million and $835.4 million respectively.
This cut has also been particularly criticised when compared to funding allocations in the rest of L.A.’s 2024-25 budget. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) received a significant funding increase, being bumped up from $1.86 billion last year to $1.98 billion this year. That’s a budget increase of $125.9 million — over a sixth of the LAFD’s budget.
However, the Los Angeles Times reports that the 2024-25 budget did not take into account a major pay increase for firefighters, which had still been in negotiation at the time it went into effect. The LAFD ultimately received an extra $53 million for firefighters’ salaries, as well as $58 million for new fire trucks and other equipment. Once this funding is factored in, the LAFD’s budget has actually grown since last year.
Credit: Josh Edelson / AFP via Getty Images
Even so, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley claims that the LAFD has been underfunded for years, the additional boost apparently still not enough to resolve the ongoing problem.
“Any budget cut is going to impact our ability to provide service,” Crowley told Fox News affiliate KTTV. “We are screaming to be properly funded to make sure that our firefighters can do their jobs so that we can serve the community.”
Crowley previously expressed frustration at the $17.6 million cut in a memo last December, stating that the included $7 million reduction in overtime staffing “has severely limited the Department’s capacity to prepare for, train for, and respond to large-scale emergencies, including wildfires.” This memo was issued after the aforementioned additional funding had been approved.
Still, Bass has maintained that further funding for the LAFD would not have changed the outcome of the current L.A. fires, noting the “unprecedented windstorm” which has fuelled the disaster. Extreme winds of up to 100 mph (160km/h) have been fanning the wildfires, making them extremely difficult to contain.
“I think if you go back and look at the reductions that were made, there were no reductions that were made that would have impacted the situation that we were dealing with over the last couple of days,” Bass said in a recent press conference.