Trump tours wildfire destruction
‘We’ve never seen anything like this in California,’ he says
PARADISE, Calif. — From the ashes of a mobile home and RV park, President Trump said yesterday he had to come to the heart of California’s killer wildfire to fully grasp the scale of the desolation wrought on the landscape. “We’re going to have to work quickly . ... Hopefully this is going to be the last of these because this was a really, really bad one,” said the president, who pledged that improved forest management practices would diminish future risks. “I think everybody’s seen the light and I don’t think we’ll have this again to this extent,” Trump said in Paradise, the town largely destroyed by a wildfire ignited Nov. 8 that he called “this monster.” At least 71 people have died across Northern California, and authorities are trying to locate more than 1,000 people, though not all are believed missing. More than 5,500 fire personnel were battling the blaze that covered 228 square miles and was about 50 percent contained, officials said. “It’s going to work out well, but right now we want to take care of the people that are so badly hurt,” Trump said from what remained of the Skyway Villa Mobile Home and RV Park. He noted “there are areas you can’t even get to them yet” and the sheer number of people unaccounted for. “I think people have to see this really to understand it,” Trump said. Several burned-out cars were nearby. Trees were burned, their leaves gone. Homes were totally gone; some foundations and twisted steel remained, as did a chimney. The fire was reported to have moved through the area at 80mph. The president later toured an operation center, met with response commanders and praised the work of firefighters, law enforcement and representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. “We’ve never seen anything like this in California,” Trump said. Trump took a helicopter tour en route to Chico before he toured Paradise. A full cover of haze and the smell of smoke greeted the president upon his arrival at Beale Air Force Base near Sacramento.