Photos: Getty Image
After nearly two and a half years in office, Governor Gavin Newsom is facing major backlash after an investigation from CapRadio and NPR proved that he greatly misled CA about his wildfire prevention efforts. On his first day in office, Newsom spoke and said,
“Everybody has had enough."
and had announced that he had signed an executive order that would help California's approach to wildfire prevention. With what's being predicted as what's going to be one of California's most dangerous wildfire seasons quickly approaching, many citizens are calling out the Governor and his false promises.
The CapRadio and NPR investigation found that Newsom greatly overstated the number of acres treated with fuel breaks and prescribed burns in the very forestry projects he said needed to be prioritized to protect the state’s most vulnerable communities by a whopping 690%. Newsom also claimed that 35 "priority projects" from his executive order in fire prevention work was 90,000 acres. State data actually shows that it was actually only 11,399 acres, which is a HUGE difference.
In California last year, we saw 4.3 million acres burned due to wildfires. That is the most we have seen burned in California history, which is extremely alarming and raises some questions. As most of the state is in either in an "extreme drought" or "exceptional drought", California is dry and is now way more likely of catching fire with the increasing summer temperatures.
As Newsom faces recall and now the backlash from his false promises on wildfire prevention, he recently proposed having $1.2 billion of funding added to his upcoming budget for "wildfire resiliency". This should have been addressed and looked into long ago.
With the recent findings from CapRadio and NPR, many Californian's are feeling betrayed by the Governor and his false promises. This should have been a bigger priority for the Governor.
Mitch and Carol Mackenize, a CA couple that owns "Carol Shelton Wines" in Santa Rosa had their home destroyed due the Tubbs Fire in 2017. They spoke to CapRadio about their concerns with the recent findings.
“With all the fire danger that we have experienced year, after year, after year ... you would think it would be a higher priority to make sure that all of this area is treated as much as possible,”
said Mitch Mackenzie. He would add,
“[Politicians] always want to look good about fixing the problem, but then they never really do it.”
Many Californian's think the same thing and wonder why Newsom isn't actually attacking the issue, as he should have a long time ago.
As we sit here on the cusp of fire season, citizens are hoping that things actually get moving and Newsom follows through on more of his promises.