She was on a foreign trip not during fire season. That’s normal. She came back when the fires started. The fire department budget was not cut. The union has not finished negotiating their contact when the budget was written so the money was kept in a different fund until the contract was finished. And even if the budget was doubled that would not be enough to fight these fires. Certainly mistakes were made and there are lessons to learn. But, it would be wrong to have a political fight in the middle of a disaster. So, she wisely said nothing at all.