California Gov. Gavin Newsom traveled to Washington on Feb. 5 for a two-day trip to discuss fire recovery funding with President Donald Trump and a bipartisan group of lawmakers.
Newsom’s office said the governor “expressed his appreciation for the Trump Administration’s early collaboration and specifically thanked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for his agency’s swift action,” including the deployment of 1,000 people to aid with debris removal.
California needs assistance to help families affected by fires, the governor told Trump. Newsom said California has willingly helped other states in the past and is now asking for support.
“Supporting Americans in their time of need is what this country has always done, and in California’s time of need we are seeking the same support and commitment we have provided others,” Newsom said in a Feb. 6 statement. “This will take all of us, and I am committed, as I always have been, to working with everyone and anyone to see that Californians have the support and resources they need to recover and rebuild.”
A statement from the governor’s office described the meeting with the president as “very productive.” Newsom thanked the president for working together with the state to oversee recovery efforts.
“The president is willing to work with anybody from blue states or red states to do what’s best for the American people,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press briefing on Feb. 5. “He has continued to apply tremendous pressure to Gavin Newsom and also the Los Angeles mayor.”
“The devastation in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena aren’t new lessons,” Newsom said in a statement. “They are the latest lessons in urban firestorms that have devastated communities across the globe. To meet the needs of increasingly extreme weather, where decades-old buildings weren’t planned and designed for today’s realities, these proposals are part of a bigger state strategy to build wildfire and forest resilience from forest management, to huge investments in firefighting personnel and equipment, community hardening, and adopting state-of-the-art response technologies.”
The State Board of Forestry is directed to require an “ember resistant” area within five feet of all residences located in high fire danger zones.
The order also directs Cal Fire to add 1.4 million acres to the state’s two highest tiers of fire danger. The change will strengthen building codes in affected areas to reduce the risk of urban wildfire.
State and local firefighting organizations are also instructed to increase collaboration with federal partners to improve disaster response efforts.
