With peak wildfire season just around the corner, residents of California and the broader U.S. West are bracing not just for the blazes, but also for ongoing cuts to the federal programs that have long served as lifelines to a region in flames.

As part of a broader effort to reduce spending, the Trump administration has slashed workforces and downsized budgets at many of the bodies responsible for managing and mitigating climate-driven weather extremes.

"The fact the matter is, the same level of federal response will not be mustered this year as has been mustered in the past, and may not be mustered at all," Rob Moore, a policy analyst for Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), told The Hill.

Chief among the entities on the chopping block has been the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which President Trump promised to overhaul. Other cuts have hit the Department of Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Weather Service (NWS).

On the other hand, Trump on Thursday signed an executive order focused on wildfire prevention — directing the Interior and Agriculture department chiefs to "consolidate their wildland fire programs." The order also ordered the Defense Department to sell excess aircraft parts that could bolster mitigation and response, while calling upon agencies to loosen rules on prescribed burns and fire retardant use.

An accompanying fact sheet described the directives as "returning common sense to wildfire prevention and response," while the order itself slammed California's response to the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles in January.

The winter wildfires, according to the order, were a testament to "the catastrophic consequences when State and local governments are unable to quickly respond to such disasters."

"In too many cases, including in California, a slow and inadequate response to wildfires is a direct result of........

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