Historic $500 million secured for wildfire prevention and response

In the face of another statewide drought, on April 8th the legislature announced an historic investment of over half a billion dollars for wildfire prevention, response and resiliency. On April 14, Governor Newsom signed the $536 million bill focused on preventing fires through forest and vegetation management, clearing fuel around rural homes and retrofitting buildings in high-risk areas to help them survive fires.

This is the largest early budget action in California history and is a critical step to ensuring the safety of our communities as we enter what could be another devastating wildfire season. An additional round of funding is expected in June or early July.

For the past two years, North Coast Senator Mike McGuire has been co-chairing the Senate's Wildfire Working Group -- leading the statewide efforts to bolster California's wildfire response and resiliency to adapt to the growing threat of fires across our state.

Earlier this year, the Working Group released a Blueprint for a Firesafe California, focused on data driven approaches that will help keep communities safe from wildfires and it laid out a road map for investment regarding fire response and prevention. Read the Blueprint here.