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.

Republicans called for the session to be shut down “immediately" and accused Newsom of cutting wildfire prevention funding by 80% over the last four years.

The US president-elect has criticised a top California Democrat for challenges fighting the blazes in Los Angeles.

The criticism, fanned by Trump and his allies across social media, has triggered a political clash over the two massive wildfires menacing Los Angeles from the east and west. At least five people have died in what has developed into one of the biggest natural disasters in California's history.

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.