Governor Newsom announces expansion of the world’s largest civilian aerial firefighting fleet: deployment of fourth C-130 H airtanker and new helitack base

California’s comprehensive wildfire strategy

Governor Newsom is committed to tackling the wildfire crisis from every angle – prevention, response, and recovery. Since 2021, the state has invested billions of dollars in wildfire prevention and forest resilience, expanding cutting-edge technologies that help firefighters respond faster and more safely, and forged unprecedented partnerships with federal, tribal, and local governments, as well as private and non-profit landowners.

Streamlined approval of forest management projects has allowed the State to address emergency conditions expeditiously. By using a transparent, time‑limited framework with clear environmental sideboards, the Newsom Administration is:

• Reducing near‑term wildfire danger in high‑risk communities.
• Protecting lives, homes, and critical infrastructure.
• Improving forest health and watershed resilience in the face of a hotter, drier climate.
• Creating a bridge to a durable, long‑term regulatory framework for forest health and fuels reduction that will outlast any single emergency order.

California’s unprecedented wildfire readiness 

As part of the state’s ongoing investment in wildfire resilience and emergency response, CAL FIRE has significantly expanded its workforce over the past five years by adding an average of 1,800 full-time and 600 seasonal positions annually – nearly double that of the previous administration. Over the next four years and beyond, CAL FIRE will be hiring thousands of additional firefighters, natural resource professionals, and support personnel to meet the state’s growing demands.

Governor Newsom has invested millions of dollars to protect communities from wildfire – with $135 million available for new and ongoing prevention projects and $72 million going out the door to projects across the state. This is part of over $5 billion the Newsom administration, in collaboration with the legislature, has invested in wildfire and forest resilience since 2019.

This builds on consecutive years of intensive and focused work by California to confront the severe ongoing risk of catastrophic wildfires. New, bold moves to streamline state-level regulatory processes builds long-term efforts already underway in California to increase wildfire response and forest management in the face of a hotter, drier climate.

The state’s efforts are in stark contrast to the Trump administration’s dangerous cuts to the U.S. Forest Service, which also threatens the safety of communities across the state. The U.S. Forest Service has lost 10% of all positions and 25% of positions outside of direct wildfire response – both of which are likely to impact wildfire response this year. In recent weeks, the Trump administration proposed a massive reorganization that would shutter the Pacific Regional Forest Service office and other regional Forest Service offices across the West, compounding staff cuts and voluntary resignations across the agency.

As the conditions that fueled 2020 become more common, CAL FIRE urges residents to prepare: make an evacuation plan, pack a go bag, and sign up for local emergency alerts.

To learn more about preparedness, visit ReadyforWildfire.org.