California wildfires: President Trump heads to state to tour damage, meet with firefi

California wildfires: President Trump heads to state to tour damage, meet with firefighters

By Jordyn Phelps
Nov 17, 2018, 10:29 AM ET

President Trump is on his way to California to tour the devastation from the wildfires and said he plans to spend a lot of time on the ground to meet with firefighters and the state’s top elected officials.

“It’s a shame. It seems that many more people are missing than anyone thought even possible. And I want to be with the firefighters and the FEMA and first responders. We'll be spending a lot of time,” President Trump told reporters before departing for California.

The president will also meet with Gov. Jerry Brown and the governor-elect, Gavin Newsom.

In a tweet, Brown, who has feuded with Trump on several issues, welcomed the president to his state.

"Tomorrow @GavinNewsom and I will join @POTUS during his visit to the state," he tweeted Friday. "Now is a time to pull together for the people of California."

The raging wildfires have already claimed at least 74 lives and up to a 1,000 people are still missing.

The Camp Fire in Butte County, which killed at lesat 71 people, is considered the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state's history.

Search crews have found eight more sets of remains in the burned-out rubble of Northern California, as officials there fear more deaths in the destructive wildfires raging at both ends of the state that has already claimed a total of 74 lives, including three lost in Southern California blazes.

Trump said he’ll be stopping at two of the most badly devastated areas. He applauded the firefighters for being “unbelievably brave” as they’ve battled the fires.

The president reiterated his criticism that poor fire management is to blame for the severity of the fires, even as that assessment has been widely condemned and shown to be factually flawed.

Last week, Trump tweeted, "With proper Forest Management, we can stop the devastation constantly going on in California."

"Get Smart!" he added.

On Saturday, he said he'll address the issue again.

“We will be talking about forest management. I've been saying that for a long time, and this could have been a lot different situation. But the one thing is that everybody now knows this is what we have to be doing. It should have been done many years ago but I think everybody is on the right side. It’s a big issue,” Trump said.

Though the president asserted that there is agreement on the issue of forest management, California officials -- including a top-ranked fire official -- have slammed his criticism. California Professional Firefighters President Brian Rice called Trump’s assertion of forest management "ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines.”

Trump has been less willing to acknowledge the role that global warming plays in contributing to the drought and heat conditions that make for wildfires more likely in California.

"Maybe it contributes a little bit. The big problem is management," Trump said in an interview with FOX News.
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https://abcnews.go.com/US/california...ry?id=59240106

SHUT THE BORDER DOWN...WE HAVE MILLIONS THAT ARE HOMELESS AND DISPLACED BY OUR OWN NATURAL DISASTERS!

NO MORE PEOPLE!

DO NOT GIVE JERRY BROWN A DIME OF CASH! HE WILL DIVERT THAT MONEY TO ILLEGAL ALIENS!

HE HAS DESTROYED THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA LIKE MERKEL IS DESTROYING GERMANY!

I got to tell you, I love seeing our President in California. Governor Jerry Brown and Governor-Elect Gavin Newsom were on-hand at the airport, created a really nice welcome message for the President, and I hope everything goes well during the visit. Such a terrible tragedy, 1,000 + missing and 74 dead. It's such an unbelievable tragedy. Brown also is saying they must do better forest management, so President Trump has driven that point home and done Californians a great service. Someone had to say it, someone needed to tell it like it really is, and Trump did that, from Paris, even though he was attacked for it.

A nice welcome for the President? I doubt it.

They just want $$$$$ and lots of it!

No cash to those traitors! It will end up paying for their illegal aliens!

Give them one for one dollar. They cut off Medicaid, welfare and food stamps to illegals...we will match dollar for dollar! Nothing more!

Yeah, they posted this nice welcome message on Twitter yesterday or early this morning. I saw it today but I think it had been there awhile. I think Trump won more votes in California than were reported, not sure how they stuffed the ballots, but I think he did better there than the numbers show. If he could have made time for 3 rallies in California, it would have made a huge difference. Not sure he would have won California, but he would have gotten a lot more votes. I understand why he didn't, resources, time and likely outcomes prevented it, but I thought he should have done it anyway, I sure hope he campaigns hard in California in 2020. If anyone can turn that state back red, it's Donald Trump.

Anyway, he's there today for a sad and important event and that is dealing with the wildfire damage and how to stop these awful fires. I heard today that of the last 198 requests by California for national disaster relief, over 170 of them have been for wildfires. That's crazy, it has to stop, by all means necessary whatever it takes. We do not want a "California Burning". This is outrageous what is going on.