Xavier Becerra, candidate for California governor, outlines wildfire preparedness plan

California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra, in Altadena for a roundtable meeting with community leaders, firefighters and survivors of the Eaton fire on Thursday, Sept. 17, afterwards announced his plan to help Californians prepare for and better respond to future wildfires.

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Becerra is proposing the state invest in efforts to harden homes and communities against future fires, standardize emergency alert systems and better support firefighters, including providing them with more manageable work weeks.

“We’ve got to make our communities fire-ready, fire-safe,” Becerra said during a news conference after his roundtable meeting.

“We know the fires will come. It’s not a matter of if; it’s a matter of when,” he added.

Through what he’s coined his “Fire-Safe, Fire-Ready Communities” initiative, Becerra wants the state to provide grants to low-income Californians to pay for home hardening measures. He also wants to create the first statewide plan to identify community wildfire risk and the most cost-effective ways to reduce those risks. In addition, the state would support local governments as they develop mitigation plans.

Becerra is also calling for a statewide, uniform emergency alert protocol. This would include having trained staff on call around the clock to activate alerts as needed; requiring alerts be sent out within minutes of a decision to order or recommend that residents take action; creating pre-written alert templates long before a disaster hits, with instructions in different languages; and requiring a debriefing after each incident to identify areas for future improvement.

During last year’s Southern California wildfires, nearly all the people who perished in the Eaton fire lived in west Altadena, where evacuation alerts came hours after the fire started. Many also believed Palisades residents should have received alerts much sooner than they did.

In terms of supporting firefighters, Becerra proposed setting a 56-hour work week for these emergency responders, some of whom he said currently log 60 to 80 hours a week fighting fires and are overworked. His plan also calls for better pay for firefighters, prioritizing their safety and providing them with better resources to improve retention rates.

Becerra’s opponent in the race for governor, Republican Steve Hilton, had previously presented his own plan for wildfire preparedness.

Hilton’s proposal includes using modern technology, including drones, automated systems and advanced monitoring, for the early detection and rapid suppression of wildfires, plus rolling back “extreme environmental and air quality regulations” that he says has prevented effective vegetation management or controlled burns as a way to manage wildfires, according to his campaign website.

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Hilton has also proposed state-supported programs to incentive homeowners to make upgrades to their homes and properties to better defend against such fires; reform insurance regulations so that insurers can and must offer premium discounts fire-hardened homes; and provide property tax credits to homeowners who undergo certified fire prevention upgrades.

Meanwhile, back in Altadena on Thursday, Becerra – who was joined by state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez and Assemblymember John Harabedian, two Democrats who represent Altadena and surrounding communities – acknowledged that there is more work to do when it comes to wildfire-related state policies.

Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose term will soon end, had sought to pass sweeping wildfire liability reforms during his final year in office. But he faced pushback from lawmakers, including members of his own party, on some of the reforms he sought because opponents viewed them as a bailout to utility companies responsible for some of these wildfires.

Further discussions about wildfire liability reforms are expected to resume in the next legislative session – after a new governor is in place.

“I know the legislature is going to try to deal with … wildfire liability as well. I’m ready to put on the work uniform to get to work on that,” Becerra said during a news conference on the property of Nic Arnzen, chair of the Altadena Town Council, whose home is being rebuilt after the Eaton fire.

Becerra and others had visited Arnzen’s property following the roundtable meeting at the Eaton Fire Collaborative.

Becerra, who served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Biden administration, also pledged to be relentless in taking on President Donald Trump and his administration if necessary to secure federal funding that he said is owed to the communities recovering from the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires.

He insisted that under his administration, California would be relentless in fighting for the tens of billions of federal dollars he believes these communities are owed. He did not rule out taking the issue to court.

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“We are entitled to those dollars. We’re going to stay tenacious,” he said.