Gov. Gavin Newsom today announced he has fast-tracked more than 100 wildfire prevention projects “deploying state resources to protect communities that the federal government seems increasingly unwilling to defend.”

State officials reported that some of the state’s largest wildfires in 2025 are in forests under federal jurisdiction, including the Garnet Fire in Fresno County that is threatening 2,000-year-old sequoias.

“While the Trump administration has been busy slashing U.S. Forest Service budgets by 10% and cutting 25% of firefighting support staff, California has worked to become the nation's de facto wildfire response leader,” Newsom said in a statement.

He reported that at least 15 major fires are burning over 350,000 acres on national forest and Bureau of Land Management lands in the state.

“As federal lands burn across the state, California has stepped into the breach with billions in funding, thousands of personnel, and the world's largest aerial firefighting fleet to compensate for Washington's retreat from environmental stewardship,” the governor said. California manages approximately 3% of forests in the state, compared to 57% under federal management.
The 100 vegetation management projects were authorized under the state of emergency proclaimed earlier this year.

“It's a bitter irony that California taxpayers are funding both state and federal wildfire protection while the federal government that owns the burning land cuts funding and diverts resources to political theater,” Newsom said.

Earlier this year, the governor warned that the Trump administration’s cuts to the U.S. Forest Service “could have catastrophic results.” Newsom also sent a model executive order to the White House for the President to issue to help the federal government match California’s efforts and better manage its forestlands.

California has provided comprehensive support to all federal wildfire incidents through unified command structures, direct resource deployment, National Guard support and coordination systems for state and federal firefighting capabilities.

The governor’s office reported that Cal Fire has expanded its workforce over the past five years by adding an average of 1,800 full-time and 600 seasonal positions annually, and that over the next four years will hire additional firefighters, natural resource professionals and support personnel.

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.

The state has countered with $135 million for new and ongoing prevention projects and $72 million going out the door to projects across the state.

The major fires on federal land are:

• Garnet Fire, Sierra National Forest, Fresno County
  • 54,925 acres, 14% containment, started Aug. 24
  • The Garnet Fire remains the most active federal wildfire, burning in dense timber and beetle-killed trees in the Sierra National Forest. The fire is currently threatening 2,000-year old giant sequoia trees.
• Gifford Fire, Los Padres National Forest, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties
  • 131,614 acres, 98% containment, started Aug.1
  • California's largest wildfire of 2025, the Gifford Fire achieved "mega fire" status by burning over 100,000 acres in rugged Los Padres National Forest terrain.
  • Cal Fire provided extensive support through unified command with Los Padres National Forest and local sheriff's offices. California deployed 1,242 personnel, 37 engines, 52 dozers, 28 water tenders, 17 crews, and 2 helicopters, plus numerous air tankers. The state coordinated with local authorities complex evacuation operations across both counties.
• Madre Fire, Los Padres National Forest, San Luis Obispo County
  • Size: 80,779 acres, 100% containment, started July 2
  • Operating under unified command between Los Padres National Forest and Bureau of Land Management, this fire burned primarily on federal lands. Cal Fire provided unified command support with 224 personnel at peak operations. California coordinated evacuations with local authorities for eight zones under evacuation orders and six zones under evacuation warnings.
• Orleans Complex, Six Rivers and Klamath National Forests, Del Norte and Siskiyou counties
  • 22,144 acres, 91% contained, started July 9
  • This complex fire consists of the Butler Fire, Red Fire, and Big Cliff Fire burning across multiple national forests. Cal Fire coordinated multi-agency response and evacuations, including the complete evacuation of Forks of Salmon community. Three firefighters were hospitalized after a tree fall incident during suppression operations.

• Green Fire, Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Shasta CountY
  • Size: 19,022 acres, 100% contained, started June 30
  • Ignited following widespread thunderstorms that produced over 3,100 lightning strikes across Shasta-Trinity National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service coordinated with Cal Fire for unified suppression efforts, with extensive mop-up operations completed.

For more information on fires impacting California, go to fire.ca.gov.

 

Three decades of journalism experience, as a writer and editor with Gannett, Knight-Ridder and Lee newspapers, as a business journal editor and publisher and as a weekly newspaper editor in Scotts Valley and Gilroy; with the Weeklys group since 2017. Recipient of several first-place writing and editing awards, California News Publishers Association.