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LOOKING FOR VICTIMS: Rescuers walk between burning cars and buildings looking for fire victims in Talent, Oregon, Sunday.
Democratic politicians in California, Washington and Oregon criticize President Donald Trump’s failure to bring up climate change in connection with the wildfires raging in their states.
So far 33 people have been confirmed dead in the violent fires on the west coast of the United States, and search teams fear several bodies in the ruins.
Entire neighborhoods have been burned to the ground, hundreds of thousands have been evacuated, and smoke has made air quality in cities like San Francisco, Seattle and Portland now among the worst in the world, according to the AP news agency.
– We know that climate change facilitates fires, that they spread faster and become more intense. It’s freaking out that now, as we have this cosmic challenge to our communities, with the entire West Coast on fire, we have a president who denies it is about weather fires, “Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee told ABC.
Wildfires in the United States: – Preparing for mass death
The statement comes after US President Donald Trump commented on the fires during an election rally in Nevada on Saturday, without mentioning climate change as a contributing factor, NTB writes.
– I talked to people in Oregon, in Washington. They have never had anything like this. Remember, it’s as simple as good forestry, Trump said, thanking firefighters and others fighting the flames.
– stick your head in the sand
The president of the United States will go to McClellan Park in the hard-hit state of California on Monday to meet with leaders of emergency services battling massive wildfires.
Trump also issued a disaster declaration in August.
Mayor Eric Garcetti of the Californian city of Los Angeles told CNN that he wants stronger leadership from the president, who he believes discriminates against states ruled by Democrats and Republicans.
Refuses to discuss climate change and wildfires: – Lower it a few notches
During a voter rally in the swing state of Pennsylvania in August, Trump said he could withhold emergency aid to California because they hadn’t done enough to keep their forest floors clean.
“This is about climate change, and this is an administration that is sticking its head in the sand,” Garcetti told CNN, adding:
– This administration is the last remnant of the society “the earth is flat” in our generation.
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro tells CNN that Garcetti’s claim that Trump is politically motivated when he offers, or does not offer, federal aid is an insult.
“New York got everything they wanted, so please Mr. Garcetti, take better care of Los Angeles than you do,” he said, referring to federal aid offered to New York when the corona pandemic was at its worst. the state.
The Gurdian newspaper notes that even various democratic leaders, such as Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, have not made clear statements about climate change and the country’s wildfires.
Recognize poor forest control
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown, also a Democrat, says she believes this year’s dire situation is due to both poor control of the country’s forests and climate change.
– It’s about decades of poor forest control in this country, and it’s about the fact that we have failed to tackle climate change. We have to do both and we can do both, he says in an interview with CBS.
Fire tragedy experienced in 2018: – It feels like it’s happening again.
According to NASA, climate change has an impact on wildfires because hot, dry conditions on land mean they are better able to burn.
According to NTB, IQAir, which monitors global pollution, reports that five of the ten most polluted cities in the world are now on the west coast of the United States.
On Sunday, National Weather Service forecasters issued a so-called “red flag warning” that dry, windy weather in southern Oregon and California may lead to the progress that firefighters have made in recent days. reversed, writes the New York Times.
Ross Bradstock, who works at the Center for Environmental Risk and Wildfires at the University of Wollongong in Australia, tells SBS that what is happening in the United States is similar to what Australia experienced in December and January, when powerful wildfires they swept the country.
– We see something similar there to what happened to us in the previous fire season: burns like we’ve never seen before, larger areas burning and more drought and heat than you’ve seen before, he says.
