California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the response to the wildfires in Los Angeles

A California lawmaker is calling for major changes in wildfire prevention.

“There’s a lot of similarities. And that’s part of the problem here, is that I don’t know that we’re really learning the lessons of the past,” Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher told Fox News Digital.

Gallagher was describing the 2019 Paradise fire that hit his state and said more needs to be done to fight and prevent dangerous wildfires throughout the Golden State.

“It’s the same type of catastrophic wind-driven fire. We’re still seeing the movement of dead and dying timber and understory brush, in that case, it destroyed an entire community,” Gallagher said.

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“So from Paradise to the Palisades, in the last seven years, we’ve seen catastrophic fire after catastrophic fire and our leadership in California, they’ve done a terrible job of solving the problem.”

Gallagher said he feels that state and local leadership have been “seriously lacking” in their response to the wildfires.

“If you just look at the water not coming out of the fire extinguisher and nobody knows why. And then the governor says, ‘I’m going to investigate’, it’s just a sideshow at a time when we need strong, strong leadership,” continued Gallagher.

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“It’s just kind of a sideshow at a time when we need real certainty…”

“Probably the best contrast to draw is how DeSantis handled the hurricanes in Florida versus how Gavin handled this disaster. You can definitely see the difference in leadership.”

Izzy Gardon, communications director in Newsom’s office, has faced criticism for the governor’s handling of the wildfires.

“The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,” Gardon told Fox News Digital.

“The Governor is focused on protecting the people, not playing politics, and making sure that the firefighters have all the resources they need.”

The governor’s office shared a letter about the broken water pipes, saying that “while general water availability in Southern California is not a problem, water flow in the first response was a problem.”

“That’s why @CAGovernor Newsom ordered a full, independent review of LADWP. This will never happen again,” the post on X read.

Gallagher said that while what we’re seeing in California right now is sad, it’s time for everyone to come together and come together to help people recover, but to “ultimately fix the problems in California.”

“The lack of infrastructure. The lack of proper management of our areas to ensure that communities are safe,” Gallagher said.

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The Palisades Fire is ravaging a nearby area with strong winds in the Pacific Palisades area of ​​Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Gallagher said that by 2021, he and other lawmakers are fighting for $1 billion in funding to fight and prevent dangerous wildfires and added that wildfire prevention and problems affecting the state’s insurance market must be addressed and that there have been significant budget cuts since then.

“It’s really about getting back to the basics of government, public safety, public goods and infrastructure that Gavin Newsom and the Democrats have just done a terrible job of. They haven’t been taking care of that basic job of government, and they’ve been following all kinds of liberal pipe dreams really, and not taking care of the basics.”

An aerial view shows debris from burned buildings, following the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades area of ​​Los Angeles, California, US January 10, 2025. (REUTERS/Daniel Cole)

Governor Newsom’s office disputed these claims and said that under the governor’s leadership, CalFIRE’s budget has nearly doubled since 2019, from $2 billion to $3.8 billion.

His office added that Southern California’s water storage facilities are at their peak and there is no shortage of water in Southern California.

“A lot of misinformation out there. FACT: CA did not cut our firefighting budget. We have almost doubled the size of our fire brigade and built the world’s largest firefighting fleet. “CA has increased forest management tenfold since we took office,” Newsom wrote in a post on X.

Republican Senator Brian Dahle said Newsom turned his back on Californians when he opposed a bill aimed at protecting fire victims, which Newsom opposes.

“Friendly reminder: Newsom turned his back on wildfire victims by vetoing my bill, SB 542 – a measure that would have exempted the severance payments given to victims of the 2022 Mill Fire & 2021 Dixie Fire from being subject to income tax. I bet he’s planning on LYING SoCal residents with their severance payments again!”

Newsom’s office said he “wholeheartedly supports the intent of this bill.”

“In 2022, I signed a law that provided for a uniform tax exclusion for payment claims resulting from catastrophic wildfires that occurred in the previous five years. When I signed those laws, I said that future measures, such as these bills, should be included as part of the annual budget. process given the implications of the General Fund Next year, the Legislature approved an additional wildfire income tax exemption in the 2023-24 Budget. As such, I strongly encourage the Legislature to include these proposals in next year’s budget,” Newsom wrote in a previous letter sent to the California State Senate.

Newsom also drew criticism from many lawyers after he called a “special session” on “Trump’s testimony” at the inauguration of President-elect Trump and added wildfire assistance to the program.

“It’s legitimately done with political games on fire. It’s not right to suggest that strings be attached to government disaster relief,” wrote Rep. Greg Wallis, a Republican, in an X post.

“It’s wrong to tie fire relief funds to California’s ‘Trump-proofing’ special-time funding bill. It has no strings attached. Let’s focus on helping victims and getting much-needed relief funds to victims.”

Senate Majority Leader Brian Jones, also a Republican, spoke with Wallis calling Newsom’s special session “disgraceful.”

“Democrat lawmakers appear to be at odds over Newsom’s special session, which combines critical emergency funding for LA fires with $50 million in politically motivated funding to impeach Trump,” Jones wrote in the X post.

“I strongly urge my Democratic colleagues to rise above Newsom’s divisive political agenda and focus solely on disaster relief. That $50 million would be much better spent helping fire victims recover and rebuild. Reduce political angles and aid conditions—fire victims deserve the answer. That’s respectful and impartial,” Jones continued.

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A special meeting was supposed to be held on Tuesday, but was canceled due to the threat of wildfires.

Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.