“The state funds several programs that allow Cal Fire to remove dead trees and brush, as well as perform controlled burns, McLean said.”
But this is only a recent development. Trump is right, we had a cabin in the Sierras and all around in the Sequoia National Forest there was downed trees and brush untouched for decades.
they are also lacking in initial attack same goes for Oregon and Washington. It is political. They will spend billions on mopping up and rolling out to chase the fire around and try to steer it away from homes. But the initial attack budget is zilch. There is no gain by putting out fires before they become huge. No one would ever know it was going huge, no one cares. If 100 small fires started and were all put out before they went big, no one knew, no one cared, so the forest supervisor gets in trouble for spending all that money on "nothing". Its better for him politically to let it burn
I know this from experience in the USFS wildland fire.