US President Donald Trump, who reached California on Monday said, maintained that the issue of the wildfires was just a matter of cleaning up the forests and not a result of climate change. While addressing the crowd gathered, Trump said, “It will start getting cooler. You just watch; I don’t think science knows actually.”
More than 2 million acres in California have burned due to the fires this year. After surveying the damage the wildfire caused, Trump immediately launched into his usual talking points about poor forest management.
California Secretary for Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot said Trump’s focus on forest management was obscuring the grim reality that climate change was behind the historically high temperatures and years of drought, a Huffingtonpost report reads.
“We want to work with you to really recognise the change in climate and what it means for our forests. And actually work together with that science. That science is going to be key because if we ignore that science and sort of put our head in the sand and think it’s all about vegetation management, we’re not going to succeed together protecting Californians,” Crawfoot said.
Trump said, “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.” Trump also said, “If you look at other countries, if you go to other countries in Europe, Austria and Finland and numerous countries… they don’t have a problem like this,” even with ‘explosive’ trees.
The President has previously stated that climate change is a ‘hoax’. The wildfires besides destroying property have polluted the air. In 2017, Trump withdrew from the Paris climate accord to accommodate his embrace of fossil fuel polluters and has overturned fuel efficiency standards for cars.
