California Fire Season Approaches During Tough Budget Times

Photo by: Darin McKinney

Sacramento, CA — Governor Gavin Newsom promises that despite the declining state revenues, California will step up its response to the upcoming fire season.

He states, “I want folks to know that we are mindful of the threats, and we are mindful of the understandable anxiety that this time of year presents to people, in addition to what is going on with COVID-19.”

Newsom added, “We are not stepping back our efforts, we are in fact stepping them up. Enhancements for wildfire preparation and prevention across the board.”

During the first five months of the year, California has already seen over 1,100 wildfires. It marks an increase of 60-percent compared to a year ago. Newsom says the budget he will release later today will include $85-million in additional revenue to hire up to 600 firefighters during the peak part of the season. He says the state is also reviewing rules and regulations related to planned power outages which impacted many residents in the region last fall.