As Simi Valley Burns, Trump's Blocked Wildfire Prevention Funds Leave California Defenseless
Sandy fire grows to 1,386 Acres, bringing to light the need for mitigation investments as fire season looms
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the Sandy Fire tears through Simi Valley — scorching more than 1,386 acres, forcing mandatory evacuations for more than 33,000 residents, and destroying homes — the Trump administration's deliberate decision to slow wildfire prevention funding from reaching California is coming into focus.
A recent Washington Post investigation revealed that the Trump administration has deliberately withheld wildfire prevention grants from California and Colorado as both states entered an elevated fire season. Since July 2025, Republican-led Florida, Texas, and Louisiana received a combined $487 million in hazard mitigation funding. California received just $830,000 — less than 1% of what it received in the preceding months. The type of politicization that experts confirm is “unusual.”
“The Sandy Fire is the predictable consequence of a White House that has chosen to play politics with disaster prevention,” said Sabotaging Our Safety Advisory Council member Rafael Lemaitre. “While red states received hundreds of millions in federal disaster mitigation dollars, communities across California have been cut off. The roughly 1,000 frozen FEMA grants across the country include approximately 20 wildfire-related projects in the West, most of them in California and Colorado — the very states now bearing the brunt of fire season. Donald Trump and Secretary Markaway Mullin must reverse course and de-politicize disaster relief before the full brunt of the season hits millions of Americans.”
Read More:
Washington Post: These Blue States Aren't Getting Fire Prevention Money From Trump
CBS LA: Sandy Fire grows to 1,386 acres in Simi Valley
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