How Dangerous Is Wildfire Smoke?

Good morning.

Last week, the state’s top legislative leaders unveiled a plan to spend more than half a billion dollars on efforts aimed at protecting the state from catastrophic wildfires.

The plan builds on the governor’s proposal in January to spend $1 billion on wildfire prevention and resiliency efforts and includes money for things like vegetation thinning and home fixes meant to keep them from burning.

“With California facing another extremely dry year, it is critical that we get a head start on reducing our fire risk,” the three leaders — Gov. Gavin Newsom; Toni G. Atkins, the State Senate’s president pro tempore; and Anthony Rendon, the Assembly speaker — said in a statement.

That’s not an exaggeration.

My colleague Vindu Goel recently reported that this year has been so dry that two state agencies have warned there could be water supply cuts to homes, businesses and farmers. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that researchers who analyze moisture levels in plants have been shocked by some of what they’ve been seeing.

[Catch up on last year’s devastating fire season and what made it that way.]

In other words, California urgently needs to make progress before fire season hits.

Given the record-obliterating blazes we saw during last year’s season — which started really early — it’s easy to summon a sense of urgency.