As California wildfires kill at least two dozen people and cause billions of dollars in damage, some social media users are accusing Gov. Gavin Newsom of cutting funding to prevent the blazes.

Numerous posts, including on Fox News, said Newsom cut about $100 million from the state's fire protection budget in the months before the Los Angeles fires.

Some of the posts cited a Jan. 10 Newsweek article that reported Newsom signed a budget in June that cut funding for wildfires and forest restoration by $101 million. California Assembly Republicans made similar statements about fire prevention cuts, citing state budget information. President-elect Donald Trump reiterated the $100 million claim in an article on Breitbart, citing the Newsweek report.

Newsom said his suggestion of $100 million in cuts was a "ridiculous lie," which he refuted in a new website, California Fire Facts. But the site doesn't dissect the $100 million; it focuses on the big picture of the budget during his tenure, claiming that the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection's (Cal Fire) budget has grown.

Newsom is right about the budget increase. But it's not a lie that funding (actually over $100 million) was cut.

State Fire Department Budget Facts

In 2021 and 2022, California has a budget surplus. Gokce Sencan, a fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, a nonpartisan think tank, said the state is allocating an additional $16.3 billion to address issues ranging from drought and sustainable agriculture to wildfires and extreme heat.

As part of that, the state allocated $2.8 billion to wildfires and improve forest health. However, after running budget deficits in 2023 and 2024, the state cut that amount by $191 million ($47 million in 2023 and $144 million in 2024). Budget deficits run into tens of billions of dollars.

Cal Fire oversees approximately 12.5 million hectares (31 million acres) of land and responds to hazards and disasters, including fires. The department's 2024-2025 budget is approximately $4.2 billion. Most of its funding comes from state funds, but also includes reimbursements from local departments and the federal government.

The Newsweek report cited an analysis by the state's Legislative Analyst's Office, a nonpartisan office that works for the state Legislature, which it said showed $101 million in cuts. The office told PolitiFact that Newsweek cited a report summarizing the governor's proposed 2024-2025 budget.

The proposal includes a $101 million reduction in wildfire and forest restoration funding. Rachel Ehlers of the Legislative Analyst's Office said this represents a cut from the previous surplus-year budget agreement, which called for one-time wildfire funding to be spread over a four-year period from 2020 to 2024.

The adopted budget spending plan reduces planned multi-year, one-time wildfire-related funding by $144 million.

“It’s important to emphasize: These are one-time enhancement reductions, not reductions in Cal Fire’s ongoing base programs and funding,” Ehlers said.

The largest of the $144 million in cuts ($46 million) is for a Department of Environmental Protection pilot program focused on producing hydrogen from biomass. The goal of the forest management project is to address forest health and wildfire risk in the Sierra Nevada.

The pilot never left the ground, Ehlers said. The budget also reduces $35 million for wildfire resilience projects on state lands and $28 million for projects in state natural preserves.

The cuts in many programs are small, measured in percentage terms. For example, the Forest Health Program decreased by approximately 0.5% from $555 million to $552 million. Costs for designated firefighting and manual crews (who use hand tools to fight fires) fell from $134 million to $129 million, a decrease of nearly 4 percent. Fire prevention grants remain unchanged at $475 million and fire protection projects at $90 million.

Jim Stanley, spokesman for the state House Republican Caucus, also pointed to figures of $100 million in proposed cuts and $144 million in actual cuts. We asked Stanley if Republicans opposed the cuts at the time. He cited House Republican Leader James Gallagher saying in June 2024 that the budget failed to provide adequate funding for public safety.

In 2021, Cap Radio (a former PolitiFact partner) reported that Newsom “misrepresented his achievements and even deinvested in wildfire prevention. An investigation found that Newsom overstated his achievements by 690% (a nearly eight-fold increase) The number of acres that have been treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns in forestry projects, which he believes need to be prioritized to protect the state’s most vulnerable communities.

Cal Fire budget and spending grow

Cal Fire’s total base wildfire protection budget has nearly tripled over the past 10 years (from $1.1 billion in 2014-2015 to 2023 -$3 billion in 2024).

Cal Fire's overall budget has also increased, with its combined firefighting, emergency suppression, resource management and fire prevention budget more than doubling in the past 10 years, from $1.7 billion in 2014 to 2015 to 2023 to 2024 US$3.7 billion in the year. Newsom's office sent us a similar message showing the budget increase.

There was a similar increase in the number of firefighting personnel over the decade, from 5,756 to 10,275.

Another way to look at Cal Fire is through spending rather than budgeted amounts, as it's not uncommon for the state to spend more than budgeted to address fires using other funds.

The California Legislative Analyst's Office estimates that total California firefighting spending during Newsom's term has increased from $2.74 billion in 2019-2020 to $4.59 billion in 2024-2025 (not adjusted for inflation and does not include the current Los Angeles Mt. additional costs incurred by fire).

In November, California voters approved Proposition 4, a $10 billion climate bond that earmarks $1.5 billion for forest health and wildfires.

PolitiFact researcher Caryn Baird and chief reporter Louis Jacobson contributed to this report.