One year after LA fires: California deploys firefighting resources and advanced technology, accelerates prevention efforts
What you need to know: One year after the LA fires, California has deployed new firefighting equipment and cutting-edge technology—assigning five Type-6 fire engines to Los Angeles, expanding the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet, and launching the state’s first-ever statewide LiDAR mapping effort, which uses high-resolution 3D data to map terrain and vegetation and help identify where vegetation and fuels have accumulated across California. Nearly 900 wildfire resilience projects have been completed in Southern California since 2021, with hundreds of millions more in funding on the way.
SACRAMENTO – One year after the devastating Los Angeles fires, Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration has cut red tape, delivered historic funding, and deployed cutting-edge technology to protect communities statewide from catastrophic wildfire.
Through fast-tracked permitting, nearly $63 million in new wildfire prevention grants, expanded firefighting equipment, including a new strike team for Los Angeles, and first-ever statewide LiDAR mapping and forest monitoring systems, California is strengthening wildfire resilience while maintaining essential environmental protections.
The Los Angeles fires showed us we need to move faster and smarter. We’re streamlining projects that used to take years, deploying new technology to target our efforts where they matter most, and investing record funding in prevention. We’re turning hard lessons into concrete action and delivering results on the ground.
Governor Gavin Newsom
Cal OES assigns five new Type-6 fire engines to the Los Angeles City Fire Department (Source: CalOES)
Scaling up response capacity: More firefighters, equipment, and advanced technology
California has dramatically expanded its firefighting capacity and deployed cutting-edge technology, adding new equipment to Los Angeles, thousands of firefighters and billions in funding, the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet, and first-of-their-kind mapping and monitoring systems.
- New strike team strengthens Los Angeles response: Cal OES assigned five new Type-6 fire engines to the Los Angeles City Fire Department, forming a strike team that can respond quickly in both urban and wildland areas. Type-6 engines are the smallest, most maneuverable units in the state fleet—typically four-wheel drive, carrying 300 gallons of water, and designed to reach steep, narrow, or remote locations. The engines are state-owned and prepositioned with the Los Angeles Fire Department through California’s Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System. This means they can respond immediately to local incidents and deploy to other regions when mutual aid is requested. Cal OES manages a fleet of more than 270 state-owned fire engines assigned to over 60 local agencies statewide, ensuring every community can access coordinated emergency resources when disasters strike. Since 2019, Governor Newsom and the Legislature have invested in expanding and replacing these mutual aid engines to sustain all-hazards readiness across California.
- Doubled fire protection capacity: The Governor has nearly doubled CAL FIRE’s fire protection budget from $2 to $3.8 billion since 2019, increasing fire protection staff from 5,829 to 10,741 positions, while committing to 2,400 more positions over the next several years. California continues to shatter training records, graduating over 650 CAL FIRE officers in 2025 alone — ensuring boots on the ground and resources in place to meet the growing threat of wildfires. The Governor increased the budget of the Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) from $1.8 billion to $3.1 billion and staffing from 1,139 to 1,879 positions since 2019.
- Expanding to the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet: Just eight months after the addition of the state’s second C-130 Hercules airtanker, the state just bolstered its fleet with a third C-130H — strengthening California’s ability to protect communities from catastrophic wildfire and adding to the largest aerial firefighting fleet in the world. These large-capacity, highly specialized aircraft deliver significant volumes of fire retardant in a single mission, enhancing CAL FIRE’s ability to protect communities and natural resources. These new C-130Hs will be strategically located at CAL FIRE bases throughout the state to mobilize when needed, adding to the helicopters, other aircraft, and firefighters ready to protect Californians. This follows California’s leadership in utilizing innovation and technology to fight fires smarter, leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), satellites, and more for wildfire detection, projection, and suppression.
- California unveils first-ever statewide LiDAR maps: The California Natural Resources Agency, in partnership with California Air Resources Board, NASA Ames Research Center, and the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, released California’s first statewide LiDAR datasets on forest and vegetation conditions. The state has processed more than 100 million acres of LiDAR data to map terrain and vegetation and help identify where wildfire fuels have accumulated across California, including 40 million acres collected using $30 million invested by the State Legislature. For the first time, California now has a single, wall-to-wall, high-resolution view of forest and vegetation conditions statewide, providing consistent and reliable data to inform wildfire prevention, forest health, and climate resilience efforts. Agencies, tribes, researchers, land managers, and community members can immediately access the data and integrate it into planning, modeling, and on-the-ground decision-making.
- World’s first redwood forest observatory: California installed the first redwood forest observatory—two research towers in Jackson Demonstration State Forest that measure the inflow and outflow of carbon dioxide, water vapor, and energy between redwoods and their environment. The flux towers provide a real-time understanding of how redwoods respond to changing environmental conditions, wildfire, and management. Within the next year, aggregated measurements will be processed for public use.
California Unveils First-ever Statewide LiDAR Maps (Source: California Wildfire Task Force)
Responding to the unique needs of Southern California
Southern California’s distinct landscape and ignition patterns require tailored solutions. That’s why the state is working with local experts to prevent human-caused fires, harden structures, and strategically place fuel breaks across the region.
- Listening to experts on the ground: Southern California’s landscapes require carefully tailored management approaches for wildfire resilience. The Governor’s Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force has been working closely with local partners to develop wildfire solutions specific to the region’s unique challenges. The Task Force has convened three regional meetings in Southern California to hear directly from local fire management experts and has developed tools tailored to Southern California’s unique wildfire challenges. Based on close collaboration with local experts, the State is focusing on preventing ignitions, hardening structures, and strategically placed and maintained fuel breaks as keystone solutions to protect the region from wildfire.
- Delivering locally driven results: Since 2021, the State has awarded over $300M to support nearly 250 wildfire resilience projects in Southern California, including fuel breaks, ignition-reduction projects, and a broad range of community wildfire-resilience programs and projects.
- Preventing fires before they start: Nearly 95% of wildfires in Southern California are sparked by human activity. To address this, California is working across jurisdictional boundaries to target ignition sources before they turn to catastrophic flames.
- In September 2025, federal, state, and nonprofit partners, including the CAL FIRE, the California Department of Conservation, Caltrans, the U.S. Forest Service, and the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force signed the Southern California Ignition Reduction Program (SCIRP) charter. This public-private partnership is reducing human-caused wildfire ignitions, particularly along roadways where nearly two-thirds of Southern California wildfires begin.
- Caltrans treated nearly 160,000 acres along roadways in Southern California between 2021 and 2024.
- The California Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety ensures electrical corporations are constructing, maintaining, and operating electrical lines and equipment to minimize wildfire risk through review of Wildfire Mitigation Plans.
- In September 2025, federal, state, and nonprofit partners, including the CAL FIRE, the California Department of Conservation, Caltrans, the U.S. Forest Service, and the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force signed the Southern California Ignition Reduction Program (SCIRP) charter. This public-private partnership is reducing human-caused wildfire ignitions, particularly along roadways where nearly two-thirds of Southern California wildfires begin.
CAL FIRE C-130 Hercules fixed-wing air tanker (Source: CALFIRE)
Cutting red tape to deploy wildfire projects faster
Following the Los Angeles fires, Governor Newsom issued an emergency proclamation directing state agencies to accelerate high-priority wildfire safety projects while maintaining environmental protections. The state implemented a fast-tracked permitting process that reduces approval timelines to as little as 30 days—saving a year or more for complex projects.
To date, 218 wildfire prevention projects covering over 40,000 acres have been approved statewide, including 48 projects in Southern California, with 10 projects covering nearly 1,000 acres in Los Angeles County. Last week, Governor Newsom extended the deadline by which qualifying projects must be initiated until May 1, 2026.
Notable projects include:
- A 600+acre fuels reduction project led by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority near the Palisades Fire footprint in Los Angeles County.
- The 350+ acre Tonner Canyon South Vegetation Management Project will reduce wildfire risk south of Diamond Bar in Los Angeles County by removing hazardous vegetation, creating fuel breaks, and improving defensible space.
- The nearly 3,000-acre Scott Valley–Callahan Fuels Reduction and Forest Resiliency Project in Siskiyou County is removing hazardous fuels and creating strategic fuel breaks to protect local communities.
The state developed a new Statewide Fuels Reduction Environmental Protection Plan to ensure projects move quickly while safeguarding water and air quality, tribal cultural resources, and sensitive species and habitats. All fast-tracked projects are publicly available through a transparent, easy-to-use online dashboard.
Delivering historic funding to local wildfire prevention efforts
Last month, CAL FIRE awarded nearly $62.7M in Wildfire Prevention Grants to support 84 projects across California, including 41 in low-income and disadvantaged communities. $10.3M will fund 16 projects in Southern California, with $2.7M for 4 projects in Los Angeles County.
In Los Angeles County, the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments will develop a Regional Wildfire Protection Plan to protect over 31 cities and communities, 22 of which are identified as “Communities at Risk.” The grants support fire-safe councils, tribes, community groups, and local governments implementing hazardous fuels reduction, defensible space projects, evacuation planning, and community education.
Over the last six years, CAL FIRE has awarded more than $566 million in Wildfire Prevention Grants to over 575 projects statewide. CAL FIRE has also awarded $24.59 million in Forest Health grants in the Southern Region and completed nearly 31,000 defensible space inspections in Southern California.
Climate Bond funding is making a difference in reducing wildfire risk
Governor Newsom and the California Legislature deployed $170 million in voter-approved Proposition 4 (Climate Bond) funding for wildfire resilience projects.
Over $48 million has already been awarded through State Conservancies, $38 million of those funds directly reducing wildfire risk in Southern California.
This includes over $20 million from the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy for 16 projects protecting communities near the Palisades Fire and over $10 million from the San Gabriel and Lower Los Angeles Rivers and Mountains Conservancy for four projects in communities impacted by the Eaton Fire. Hundreds of millions more in Climate Bond funding will continue to be distributed to high-priority wildfire projects over the next several years.