California did NOT cut firefighting budgets months before LA wildfires
Claim
Fact
The number of CalFIRE personnel has nearly doubled since 2019 and their budget has nearly doubled since 2019
- The number of CalFIRE personnel has nearly doubled since 2019 (from 5,829 to 10,741)
- CalFIRE’s budget has nearly doubled since 2019 ($2 Billion to $3.8 Billion)
More Lies ...
False Claim: California isn’t ‘raking the forest’ to control wildfires
The state has now invested $2 billion in managing the forest (AKA “raking the forest”) in addition to the $200 million annual budget.
No, California’s smelt fish policy did not lead to the LA wildfires.
This is an outlandish connection to make. The policy is not about water availability in Southern California.
California did NOT run out of water while fighting the LA wildfires
Water reservoirs in Southern California were at record levels. There was no shortage of water in Southern California.