How Gavin Newsom’s Incompetence Led to Wildfire Devastation
The buck stops with the governor, but he’s blaming city officials and climate change.
Brandon Goldman
January 15, 2025
What’s happening: California is enduring the worst wildfire disaster in its history, with over 12,000 structures destroyed, at least two dozen lives lost, and more than 150,000 people under evacuation orders.
Newsom’s agenda: As the state faces the devastation, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) is laser-focused on combatting “misinformation,” blaming climate change, and appearing on podcasts while the Los Angeles Fire Department struggles to contain the fires.
Newsom’s solution: The governor recently proposed a “Marshall Plan” with $1 billion earmarked for immediate response, recovery, and cleanup, and $1.5 billion for long-term preparedness against fire and windstorms.
Missed warnings: Despite the National Weather Service issuing warnings of "extreme fire risk" on January 2 and holding a briefing on January 3, Gov. Newsom only called in the National Guard on January 10 (days after the fires began) and waited until very recently to mobilize national and international assistance.
A better model: When Hurricanes Milton and Helene bore down on Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) already had crews in place to repair downed power lines. Although the California government was given prior notice about the strong Santa Ana winds, no such fire crews were placed at the ready.
Big cuts: Newsom’s administration slashed $101 million from essential wildfire and forest resilience programs in California’s 2024-2025 budget, including:
$28 million from state conservancies improving wildfire resilience
$12 million from a home hardening pilot program for wildfire resilience
$8 million from wildfire monitoring and research
$5 million from CAL FIRE fuel reduction teams
$4 million from a program to encourage responsible landowner management
$3 million from an interagency forest data hub
Massive failures: Despite years of warnings, Newsom has repeatedly failed to invest in active forest management, which would have reduced the risk of catastrophic fires. Further, The LA Department of Water and Power drained the immense 117-million-gallon Santa Ynez reservoir, located near the Palisades fire, leaving firefighters without water.
Why It Matters: Newsom’s policy decisions and his failure to ensure fire crews were equipped and ready to go have directly contributed to the current catastrophe. As the governor points the finger at local leadership — while they point back at him — the state continues to suffer from the results of poor policymaking and political confusion, leaving Californians to pay the price.
360 Media View
From the left: The left-leaning outlet The Guardian focused on Gov. Newsom’s response to the fires, highlighting his Marshall Plan and efforts to ease rebuilding regulations. However, it did not mention budget cuts or the governor’s lack of preparedness in discussing the causes of the fires.
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