Steve Hilton’s Plan to Stop Wildfires Before They Become Disasters

The Problem
Wildfires are no longer rare emergencies in California. They are a permanent threat. Every year, families lose their homes, communities are torn apart, insurance becomes more expensive or disappears entirely, and billions of dollars are spent reacting after the damage is done. We grieve, we rebuild slowly, and then we wait for the next one. This is not inevitable. Fire is part of California’s natural environment. Catastrophic fire is not. The scale and frequency of today’s disasters are the result of human choices, policy failures, and a system built around reaction instead of prevention. California does not lack firefighters, courage, or money. What we lack is a serious prevention strategy.

Why the Current Approach Isn’t Working
California’s wildfire policy is reactive by design. It is built to mobilize after catastrophe, not to prevent it. That design did not happen by accident. It is the product of one-party Democratic rule in California, which has dominated state government for more than a decade and shaped how wildfire policy is written, funded, and enforced. Under Democratic control, the state has:

• Prioritized emergency reactivity and press conferences over long-term prevention.
• Made forest and brush management slower, more expensive, and harder to do through permitting, lawsuits, and extremist environmental regulation.
• Failed to deploy modern early detection systems, even as the technology has become affordable and reliable.
• Diverted fire spending towards growing government programs instead of reducing risk on the ground.
• Left homeowners and communities to navigate fire hardening on their own, with little support and lots of red tape.
• Allowed insurance risk to grow unchecked instead of reducing it through prevention.

The system rewards reaction and paperwork. It punishes prevention. As a result, California has built a wildfire policy that looks busy but does not actually reduce risk. Fires keep getting bigger, more destructive, and more expensive even as spending keeps rising. That is what Democrat one-party rule produces: more bureaucracy, more process, more spending, and worse results.

The Plan
As governor, Steve Hilton will flip the model from reaction to prevention, making California the first place in the world where wildfire prevention is universal, modern, and proactive.

• Statewide Detection and Technology Deployment. Deploy modern detection and suppression technology statewide and reform procurement and regulatory rules so California can actually use and scale these tools quickly.
• A Modern Fire Force. Create a focused California Fire Force dedicated to early detection, rapid suppression, and deployment of modern technology including drones, automated systems, and advanced monitoring.
• End the Regulatory Barriers That Make Fires Worse. Roll back and reform extreme environmental and air quality regulations that have been weaponized to block basic fire prevention and firefighting. This includes fixing harmful air quality bureaucracy that has been used to stop controlled burns, reforming endangered species rules that prevent effective vegetation management and emergency response, and restoring common-sense authority for fire agencies to act. This will be achieved through executive orders and appointments of serious, results-driven leadership to key agencies like CARB, the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and related regulatory bodies.
• Universal Fire Protection for Homes. Every home in a fire risk zone becomes eligible for state-supported fire prevention treatments. This is not a mandate. It is an incentive-driven system that makes prevention easy, affordable, and normal. These treatments include:
  • Fire-retardant coatings for vegetation, decks, fences, and structures
  • Ember-resistant upgrades and defensible space treatments
  • Modern non-toxic fire suppression and retardant technologies
• Align Insurance With Prevention. Reform insurance regulation so insurers can and must:
  • Offer meaningful premium discounts for fire-hardened homes
  • Co-fund prevention programs, because preventing losses costs less than paying for disasters
• Reward Fire Safety. Provide property tax credits for homeowners who complete certified fire prevention upgrades and streamline permits so people can protect their homes quickly.
• Fix Emergency Readiness and Response. Launch an immediate and comprehensive review, reporting within 90 days, of fire and emergency response capacity in high-risk counties and major cities to ensure the devastating failures exposed in Los Angeles under Mayor Karen Bass never happen again. This includes reviewing water availability and infrastructure, including reservoirs and hydrants, equipment readiness, personnel deployment, and inter-agency coordination. Steve Hilton will appoint an Emergency Preparedness and Response “A Team” of world-class professionals to lead this effort and set new statewide standards for readiness, coordination, and accountability.
• Open the Door to Innovation. Reform state procurement rules so California can actually use modern detection, suppression, and prevention technologies instead of blocking them with bureaucracy.

This plan is informed by the work of Rick Crawford, former Los Angeles Fire Department Battalion Chief, whose California All-Risk Governance Doctrine documents the leadership, infrastructure, and coordination failures exposed by the Palisades Fire. His analysis reinforces the need to shift from reactive response to permanent, accountable readiness before the next disaster strikes.

What This Would Mean for Californians
If implemented, this plan would improve everyday life in concrete ways:

• Fewer fires would become disasters because early detection and suppression would stop fires while they are still small.
• Homes would be safer because fire-hardened properties would be far more likely to survive.
• Insurance would become affordable again because lower risk would mean lower premiums and more insurers willing to operate in California.
• Communities would be more stable with fewer evacuations, fewer rebuilds, and fewer families displaced.
• Taxpayer money would be spent smarter, because prevention costs a fraction of emergency response and rebuilding.

Together, these changes would restore something Californians have lost: confidence that their government is actually working to keep them safe.