Trump Visits California Devastated by Wildfires, Pledges Federal Help With Forest Management
- by Amanda Heroux
- in Science
- — Nov 19, 2018
Except Finland does not have that strategy for managing its vast forest reserves.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said yesterday in a newspaper that he spoke briefly with Mr Trump about forest management on 11 November when they both were in Paris for Armistice Day events. You look at other countries where they do it differently, and it's a whole different story.
The Northern California town was obliterated by the Camp fire, killing at least 77 and destroying 10,000 homes.
Having previously criticized authorities in California for improper forest management, irking survivors and first responders alike, Trump has now made another one of his infamous, off-hand remarks regarding a Nordic country (see: #LastNightInSweden); this time he opted for Finland.
The Finnish President noted: "I mentioned to him that Finland is a land covered by forests and we also have a good monitoring system and network".
Almost 1,300 people remain unaccounted for as wildfires devastate California.
More evacuees have been allowed back in their homes and the 151-square-mile (391-square-kilometer) blaze is now 88 percent contained.
He also said he wanted "great climate".
Trump had earlier told workers to get a move on and learn from their mistakes.
Honea expressed hope that Trump's visit would help with recovery, saying the tour by the Republican president and California's Democratic leaders "signals a spirit of co-operation here that ultimately benefit this community and get us on a path toward recovery". However, Trump, a climate change skeptic, reiterated his opposition to this view in a Sunday Fox News interview, in which he said: "No".
"What we saw at Pleasure, what a name right", Trump told reporters while standing in front of some charred trees in California next to state governor Jerry Brown.
Almost 1,300 people remain unaccounted for and the death toll from the country's deadliest wildfire in a century climbed to 76, authorities said Saturday, hours after US President Donald Trump surveyed what remained of a decimated Northern California community.
Trump initially responded to the fires by blaming them on "gross mismanagement" of forests in a tweet on Saturday.
"And they're raking them and they were on fire and that should have been all raked out and you wouldn't have had the fires".
Some returned to a command center in the Northern California city of Chico on Friday after 24-hour shifts.
Despite all the humour on Twitter, the wildfires in California have been one of the most lethal natural disasters in the US State's history.
