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Donald Trump had a simple message for emergency officials in California: “It’s starting to get cold.”
The president of the United States, who in the past has blamed widespread fires on forest mismanagement, visited the state on Monday.
Wade Crowfoot, California’s Secretary for National Resources, told Trump: “This summer temperatures soared. You may have heard that we broke a world record in Death Valley. 130 degrees. [Fahrenheit, 54 degrees celcius], but even in higher LA 120 degrees more.
“If we ignore that science, stick our heads in the sand and think it’s all about vegetation management, we won’t be able to protect Californians.”
The president responded with a smile, saying, “Okay. It’ll start to get cooler. Just watch.”
The state official replied, “I wish science would agree with you.”
Trump added: “Well, I don’t think science really knows.”
A firefighter works to extinguish the Bobcat fire near Arcadia, California
More than 30 people died in the fires that ravaged the west coast states of Oregon, California and Washington.
Thousands of homes, more than four million acres, and half a dozen small towns have been destroyed since August.
The air quality in Portland, Oregon, was measured to be among the worst in the world due to smoke from wildfires.
In Oregon, where state officials have said they expect “mass casualty incidents,” search and rescue teams have been searching destroyed homes in more than half a dozen communities for human remains.
Around 40,000 people have been forced from their homes in the state.
Joe Biden, Trump’s Democratic challenger in the November presidential election, condemned his opponent’s lack of “leadership” in the fight against climate change, calling him a “climate arsonist.”
Donald Trump boards Air Force One in Las Vegas to travel to California
California Governor Gavin Newsom admitted to reporters that the state can do a better job of forest management.
But he insisted that it is “clear that climate change is real and is making it worse.”
