Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bipartisan bill to raise the salaries of California firefighters nine months after the most expensive inferno in state history incinerated Los Angeles.

On Friday, Newsom formally refused to sign a bill that would have bumped wages for CAL FIRE — the state firefighting service — up closer to those of certain local fire departments, which pay their firefighters 11 to 29% more.

The base pay for state firefighters is only $54,122 per year — while Los Angeles city firefighters make at least $85,315.

The veto came after a long battle for higher pay by state firefighters, which had almost unanimous support from California lawmakers. 3

But Newsom said the bill would put “significant cost pressures” on state coffers and argued it would “circumvent the

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