Update: Donald Trump lands in Sacramento for wildfire briefing with Gov. Newsom
Fresh off a weekend of campaigning in Nevada, President Donald Trump touched down in Sacramento Monday for a briefing on West Coast wildfires with Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Trump, speaking to reporters shortly after landing, urged more aggressive forest management to prevent the deadly wildfires that have have ignited year-after-year since he took office.
“This is by far the highest burns we’ve ever seen. There has to be good strong forest management. So hopefully they’ll start doing that,” he said.
Since mid-August, thousands of fires have raged across California, killing 22 and burning more than 3.3 million acres, an area nearly the size of Connecticut.
Most of the fires were sparked by lightning, perpetuated by triple-digit heatwaves and spread by wind through the state’s parched forests, vulnerable and full of tinder after years of drought.
Throngs of protesters and Trump supporters gathered outside McClellan Park to greet the president. One Trump supporter cut off reporters during a short press conference to praise the president.
Over the weekend, Trump’s allies criticized Newsom over fire policy following the governor’s visit to a wildfire scene in Butte County. Newsom bluntly connected the deadly fire season to climate change when he spoke at a news conference on burned-out land.
“We’re in the midst of a climate emergency,” Newsom said Friday. “We’re experiencing what so many people predicted decades ago... I’m exhausted that we have to continue to debate this issue.”
Trump on Monday declined to make that connection. He instead focused on forest management.
“Well, I think a lot of things are possible. When trees fall down after a short period of time they become very dry — really like a matchstick... and they can explode. Also leaves. When you have dried leaves on the ground it’s just fuel for the fires.”
Since Newsom took office, California has spent nearly $500 million expanding Cal Fire’s personnel and equipment. Newsom signed a bill requiring major utilities to spend a combined $5 billion on wildfire safety.
Last month, the state signed a memorandum of understanding with the Trump administration that aims to reduce fire conditions on 1 million acres of forest and rangeland each year by 2025 — roughly doubling the current amount of treatments.
But, California has roughly 33 million acres of forests and 15 million acres of scrub land that are vulnerable to fires. Newsom told Trump that the federal government controls about 57% of that terrain.
Trump on Monday also met with California emergency officials, including the director of Cal Fire and the director of the state’s Office of Emergency Services. He was scheduled to meet with members of California National Guard helicopter crews who repeatedly flew into Sierra Nevade fires to rescue hundreds of stranded campers in early September.
Before COVID-19, Newsom and Trump frequently attacked one another over issues ranging from homelessness to water policy. The pandemic forced the two men to work more closely together, bringing a sort of truce. They even complimented each other.
”We’ve worked very well together,” Trump said Monday.
Cracks in the relationship showed last month when Newsom criticized Trump’s climate policies during a video shown during the Democratic National Convention. Newsom says Trump has not shown environmental leadership needed as greenhouse gases build in the atmosphere, driving climate change that makes California’s fire seasons longer and more dangerous.
Trump in turn has blamed Democrats in California for failing to clear tinder from the state’s wilderness. During a 2018 visit to California in the aftermath of the deadly Camp Fire, Trump met with then governor-elect Newsom and argued that the state needed to do more “raking” of its forest floors.
This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 4:30 AM with the headline "Update: Donald Trump lands in Sacramento for wildfire briefing with Gov. Newsom."