Newsom’s new California budget slashes funds for retrofitting homes in wildfire zones

The Camp Fire destroyed most of the town of Paradise in 2018 but largely spared one group of homes — the newer structures built to California’s ultra-strict building code.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s original budget proposal included $101 million to help retrofit older homes in the state’s high-risk wildfire zones, adding fire-resistant roofs, siding and other features.

The coronavirus pandemic has killed that plan for now. Newsom withdrew the funding in the revised budget he unveiled Thursday as he tries to conquer a deficit estimated at $54 billion.

“The state is not in a fiscal position to expand programs given the drastic budget impacts of the COVID-19 Recession,” the written budget summary says in explaining the loss of funding for the “home hardening” program. The program was supposed to be funded with $26 million from the general fund and the rest from the federal government.

The budget blueprint came out a day after Newsom, appearing at a Cal Fire station in Cameron Park, reiterated his commitment to hiring hundreds of additional firefighters. “We’re not walking back from our responsibility to keep you safe,” he said Thursday.

The new budget retains an extra $200 million for Cal Fire and the Office of Emergency Services that he proposed in January. He’s taken other steps to ramp up fire safety: Last year he signed into law the creation of a $21 billion insurance fund to help the state’s big investor-owned utilities cope with liabilities from future wildfires. The insurance pool is funded with dollars from ratepayers and shareholders, not taxpayers, but it does commit the utilities to spend billions on wildfire safety.

Still, the loss of funding for home hardening is a setback for the state’s pledge to reduce wildfire risks.

Retrofitted houses survive wildfires at higher rates

Last year, a McClatchy analysis of Cal Fire data showed that half of the 350 single-family Paradise homes built after 2008 — when new building codes became law throughout the wildfire zones — survived the Camp Fire undamaged. Only 18 percent of the 12,100 older homes escaped damage.

Experts said the statistics showed the worthiness of California’s wildfire building codes, which are considered the strictest in the country.

But with most of California’s houses built prior to 2008, these experts said the state needed to bankroll a retrofit program — similar to what it does for seismic safety — at a time when climate change is worsening the state’s vulnerability to major fires.

The $101 million proposed in January was considered a “pilot program” — a down payment on an effort that will take billions to fix the estimated 3 million homes that lie in wildfire zones.

Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Santa Rosa, who has championed the program, called Newsom’s decision disappointing.

“I’m grateful that this budget proposal protects and prioritizes funding for fire personnel, equipment and vegetation management ... but it appears we may lose an important piece of the puzzle that could protect even more people from wildfires — funding for home hardening,” said Wood, a dentist who helped identify Camp Fire victims.

“In a situation where we could have drawn down up to a 75 percent share of federal dollars, this is disappointing. As we move forward in the budget process, I will continue to advocate for this important piece of the puzzle.”

This story was originally published May 14, 2020 at 1:42 PM with the headline "Newsom’s new California budget slashes funds for retrofitting homes in wildfire zones."