Part 5/9:

Budgetary Miscalculations: A Recipe for Disaster

An additional layer of irony in this unfolding disaster is the state’s budget decisions leading up to the wildfires. Officials in Sacramento made troubling cuts to wildfire prevention and forest resilience funding, eliminating over $11 million from critical programs aimed at addressing fire risks. Reductions included $5 million from fuel reduction teams, $28 million from state conservancies, and significant cuts to home hardening efforts, all of which would have better equipped the state to mitigate the threat of wildfires.