As officials race to get the California wild fires under control, the politics of disaster relief already looms large for both political parties.

In 2019, the number of homeowners’ policies in California that were not renewed jumped by more than thirty per cent. In 2023, two giant insurers, State Farm and Allstate, announced that they would stop writing new policies for various forms of property insurance in California.

The Los Angeles wildfires could threaten California’s already unstable insurance market, which carriers have been fleeing as disasters multiply.

Just over $100 million was cut from California's wildfire and forest resilience fund in the latest budget, though total spending has grown sharply since 2014.

The president-elect sought to blame the climate-change-exacerbated crisis in Southern California on the state’s water management. Experts disputed his claims.