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

A California lawmaker is calling for drastic changes in wildfire fighting and prevention.

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

Gallagher was describing the 2019 Paradise Fire that hit the province and said more needs to be done to combat and prevent devastating wildfires in the Golden State.

“It’s the same type of wind-driven fire. We’re still seeing dead and dying wood and brush moving across federal land. If that happens, it’s going to destroy the entire community,” 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 done a very poor job of addressing the underlying issue.”

Gallagher said he felt state and local leadership were “grossly deficient” in how they responded to the wildfires.

“When you see that water isn’t coming out of the fire and nobody seems to know why. Then the governor says, ‘Okay, I’m going to look into it.’

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“It’s like a sideshow when we need real meaning…”

“Probably the best comparison to draw is how DeSantis handled the hurricanes in Florida and how Gavin handled this disaster. You can definitely see the differences in leadership.”

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

“The governor is focused on keeping people safe, not playing politics and making sure firefighters have all the resources they need,” Garden 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 describing the shortage of water reservoirs, saying that “while the overall water supply in Southern California was not a problem, water movement was a problem in the initial response.”

“That’s why @CAGovernor Newsom ordered a full independent review of LADWP. This cannot happen again,” the post on X read.

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

“It’s a lack of infrastructure. It’s not properly managing our lands to make sure communities are safe,” Gallagher said.

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The Palisades Fire ravaged the neighborhood amid high winds in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)

Gallagher in 2010 By 2021, he and other lawmakers have fought for $1 billion in funding to fight and prevent catastrophic wildfires.

“Gavin Newsom and the Democrats have been doing a terrible job right now of getting back to the basics of government, public safety, public goods and infrastructure. They haven’t been taking care of that basic duty of government. And they’re pursuing all kinds of other liberal pipe dreams, and they’re not taking care of the basics.”

An aerial view shows the wreckage of charred properties following the Palisades Fire in the Pacific Palisades area on January 10, 2025 in Los Angeles, California, US. (Reuters/Daniel Cole)

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

The office added that reservoirs in Southern California are at peak levels and there is no shortage of water in Southern California.

“There is a lot of misinformation out there. Fact: CA did not cut our firefighting budget. We have doubled our fire brigade and built the world’s largest aerial firefighting fleet. CA has increased forest management tenfold since we took office,” Newsome wrote in a post on X.

Republican Sen. Brian Dahle argued that Newsom had turned his back on Californians when he vetoed legislation to protect fire victims.

“FRIEND NOTE: Newsom has turned his back on wildfire victims by vetoing my bill SB 542 – a measure that would make settlement payments to victims of the 2022 Mill Fire and 2021 Dixie Fire exempt from income tax. Tax settlement payments to SoCal residents too!”

Newsom’s office argued that it “wholeheartedly supports the intent of these bills.”

“In 2022, I signed legislation that would provide a similar tax exemption for settlement claims resulting from catastrophic wildfires in the past five years. By signing those bills, I said that future measures like those bills should be included as part of the annual budget. In terms of general fund implications, The Legislature enacted an additional wildfire income tax exemption in the 2023-24 budget I strongly encourage its inclusion in next year’s budget framework,” Newsom wrote in the past. Letter to the California State Senate.

After President-elect Trump was inaugurated and added wildfire relief to his agenda, Newsom drew backlash from several lawmakers after he called a “special session” to make the state “Trump-proof.”

“It’s officially done with the political games on fire. It’s wrong to propose putting strings on federal emergency aid,” wrote Rep. Greg Wallis, a Republican, in an article posted on X.

“Tying fire relief funds to a partisan ‘Trump-proof’ California special session funding bill is wrong. There are no restrictions. Let’s focus on helping victims and getting much-needed relief funds to victims.”

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

“Democrat lawmakers appear to be at odds with each other in Newsom’s special session, which raised $50 million in politically motivated funding to impeach Trump over critical emergency funding for the LA fires,” Jones wrote in a post on X.

“I strongly urge my fellow Democrats to move beyond Newsom’s divisive political agenda and focus solely on disaster relief. That $50 million is much better spent on rebuilding and rebuilding for fire victims. Throw away the political angles and conditions on relief – fire victims deserve a response.” That’s respectful and nonpartisan,” Jones continued.

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The special meeting was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but was canceled due to the ongoing wildfire threat.

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