As Trump’s illegal military deployment cuts into firefighting resources, Governor Newsom launches new CAL FIRE recruiting effort
What you need to know: Governor Newsom is launching a new CAL FIRE recruitment drive – at JoinCALFIRE.com – as President Trump’s illegal military deployment impacts firefighting resources already seeing cuts by the U.S. Forest Service.
LOS ANGELES – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the launch of a new effort to recruit for one of the world’s leading firefighting departments, CAL FIRE.
The effort comes as President Trump’s illegal militarization of Los Angeles cuts into valuable firefighting resources. Roughly 300 California National Guard fire crews have been diverted to armories in the Los Angeles region — cutting CalGuard’s firefighting force by three-quarters. This impact is on top of the Trump administration’s cuts to the U.S. Forest Service, which also threatens the safety of communities across the states.
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 from 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.
As California contends with rising wildfire risks, increasing demands for emergency services, and the need to fast-track mitigation and prevention efforts, recruiting mission-driven professionals across all disciplines has never been more critical. The state’s new website launched today, JoinCALFIRE.com, empowers prospective applicants with comprehensive information about the department’s diverse career paths— from firefighting and natural resource management to land use planning and information technology.
With peak fire season just now getting underway, we can’t let our guard down. President Trump’s political stunt is now impacting our resources – with three-quarters of the National Guard’s firefighting crews diverted to Los Angeles armories. We’re ramping up our efforts to recruit for CAL FIRE to keep our communities safe – especially as the federal government makes conditions even more dangerous.
Governor Gavin Newsom
With the scale of hiring underway, JoinCALFIRE.com is launching at a pivotal time to streamline recruitment, improve public access to career information, and ensure the department attracts the qualified, mission-driven professionals needed to strengthen statewide readiness and response capabilities.
“As our state faces unprecedented challenges, we are committed to building a team that not only meets but exceeds the demands of today’s emergencies,” said CAL FIRE Director and Fire Chief Joe Tyler. “Whether you’re launching your professional journey or looking to make a transformative career change, JoinCALFIRE.com offers the tools and resources to take that first step.”
Building on unprecedented progress
Late last month, the Governor announced $72 million for projects across the state that help reduce catastrophic wildfire risk. Governor Newsom also announced 13 new vegetation management projects spanning nearly 7,000 acres have already been approved for fast-tracking under his new streamlining initiative.
This builds on consecutive years of intensive and focused work by California to confront the severe ongoing risk of catastrophic wildfires, and Governor Newsom’s emergency proclamation signed in March to fast-track forest and vegetation management projects throughout the state. Additionally, to bolster the state’s ability to respond to fires, Governor Newsom announced in April that the state’s second C-130 Hercules airtanker is ready for firefighting operations, adding to the largest aerial firefighting fleet in the world.
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. A full list of California’s progress on wildfire resilience is available here.
Highlights of achievements to date include:
- Historic investments — Overall, the state has more than doubled investments in wildfire prevention and landscape resilience efforts, providing more than $2.5 billion in wildfire resilience since 2020, with an additional $1.5 billion to be allocated from the 2024 Climate Bond.
- On-the-ground progress — More than 2,200 landscape health and fire prevention projects are complete or underway, and from 2021-2023, the State and its partners treated nearly 1.9 million acres, including nearly 730,000 acres in 2023.
- Increasing transparency — The Governor’s Task Force launched an Interagency Treatment Dashboard to display wildfire resilience work across federal, state, local, and privately managed lands across the State. The Dashboard, launched in 2023, provides transparency, tracks progress, facilitates planning, and informs firefighting efforts.
- Hardening communities — Adding to California’s nation-leading fire safety standards, Governor Newsom signed an executive order to further improve community hardening and wildfire mitigation strategies to neighborhood resilience statewide. Since 2019, CAL FIRE has awarded more than $450 million for 450 wildfire prevention projects across the state and conducts Defensible Space Inspections on more than 250,000 homes each year.
- Leveraging cutting-edge technology — On top of expanding the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet, CAL FIRE has doubled its use of Uncrewed Aerial Systems (UAS) and the state is utilizing AI-powered tools to spot fires quicker.