California Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the response to the wildfires in Los Angeles

A California lawmaker is calling for serious change suppression and prevention of forest fires.

“There are a lot of similarities. And that’s part of the problem here, that I don’t know if we’re really learning the lessons of the past,” Assembly Minority Leader James Gallagher told Fox News Digital.

Gallagher described the 2019 Paradise fire that hit his district and said much more needs to be done to contain and prevent catastrophic wildfires via Golden State.

“It’s the same type of catastrophic wind-driven fire. We’re still seeing the movement of dead and dying wood and brush on federal land, decimating an entire community in that case,” Gallagher said.

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“So from Paradise to the Palisades, over the last seven years, we’ve seen catastrophic fire after catastrophic fire, and our leadership in California has really done a pretty poor job of addressing the underlying problem.”

Gallagher said he feels it state and local leadership were “severely deficient” in the way they responded to bushfires.

“When you just look at the water not coming out of the fire hydrants and nobody seems to know why. And then the governor says, ‘Well, I’m going to look into it,’ it’s just kind of a sideshow at a time when we need really definitive, strong leadership,” Gallagher continued.

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“it’s just a sideshow at a time when we need a real definitive…”

“Probably the best contrast to draw is the way DeSantis handled the Florida hurricanes versus the way Gavin handled this disaster. You can definitely see the differences in leadership.”

Izzy Gardon, communications director for Newsom’s office, fought back against criticism of the governor’s handling of the fires.

“The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,” Gardon told Fox News Digital.

“The governor is focused on protecting people, not playing politics, and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need.”

The governor’s office shared a letter addressing the hydrants running out of water, stating that “while the overall water supply in Southern California is not an issue, water mobility in the initial response was an issue.”

“Because @CAGuverner Newsom ordered a full, independent review of LADWP. This can’t happen again,” the post on X said.

Gallagher said that while what we’re seeing in California right now is heartbreaking, it’s time for everyone to come together and unite to help people recover, but then to “finally deal fundamentally with the problems in California.”

“It’s a lack of infrastructure. It’s a lack of proper management of our land to make sure communities are safe,” Gallagher said.

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Gallagher said that in 2021, he and other lawmakers fought for $1 billion in funding to fight and prevent catastrophic wildfires, adding that wildfire prevention and problems with the state’s insurance market must also be addressed, and that since then there has been a major reduction of allocations.

“It’s really about getting back to the basics of government, public safety, public goods and infrastructure, which Gavin Newsom and the Democrats have just done a terrible job of. They didn’t care about that basic duty of government, and they basically went after all kinds of other liberal pipe dreams, not taking care of the basics.”

Governor Newsom’s office disputed these claims and said that under the governor’s leadership, CalFIRE’s budget has nearly doubled since 2019, from $2 billion to $3.8 billion.

His office added that water reservoirs in Southern California are at record levels and that there is no water shortage in Southern California.

“There is a lot of misinformation. TRUTH: CA has NOT cut our firefighting budget. We have nearly doubled the size of our firefighting force and built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet. CA has INCREASED forest management tenfold since we took office,” Newsom wrote in a post on X.

Republican Sen. Brian Dahle argued that Newsom turned his back on Californians when he vetoed a bill aimed at protecting wildfire victims, which Newsom disputes.

“Friendly reminder: Newsom turned his back on wildfire victims by vetoing my bill, SB 542 — a measure that would have excluded settlement payments awarded to victims of the 2022 Mill Fire and 2021 Dixie Fire from subject to income taxes. I bet he plans on TAXING SoCal residents and their settlement payments!”

Newsom’s office said he “wholeheartedly supports the intent of these laws.”

“In 2022, I signed into law legislation that provides similar tax exemptions for settlement claims arising from catastrophic wildfires that occurred in the previous five years. In signing those laws, I stated that future measures like these laws should be included as part of of the annual budget Given the implications for the General Fund, the legislation is in the 2023-2024 Budget Act. As such, I strongly encourage the Legislature to include these proposals in the budget framework for next year,” Newsom wrote in the previous letter sent to the California State Senate.

Newsom also received backlash from several lawmakers after he called a “special session” to “keep the country safe from Trump” for President-elect Trump’s inauguration, then added fire remediation to the agenda.

“The political fire games are officially over. It is wrong to suggest that federal disaster relief be put on the line,” Assemblyman Greg Wallis, a Republican, wrote in a post on X.

“It’s wrong to tie firefighter relief funds to California’s partisan special session funding bill, the ‘Trump check.’ No strings attached. Let’s focus on helping victims and getting desperately needed funding to help victims.”

Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones, also a Republican, echoed Wallis’s assessment, calling Newsom’s special session “insulting.”

“Democratic lawmakers appear to be at odds over Newsom’s offensive special session, which combines crucial emergency funding for the LA fires with $50 million in politically motivated funding for the Trump lawsuit,” Jones wrote in a post on X.

“I strongly urge my fellow Democrats to rise above Newsom’s divisive political agenda and focus solely on disaster relief. That $50 million would be much better spent helping fire victims recover and rebuild. Drop the political angles and aid conditions – fire victims deserve a response that’s respectful and impartial,” Jones continued.

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The extraordinary session was originally supposed to be held on Tuesday, but was canceled due to the constant threat of forest fires.

Fox News Digital’s Charles Creitz contributed to this report.