Trump to visit California
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump plans to visit California on Saturday “to meet with individuals impacted by the wildfires,” a spokeswoman said Thursday.
The White House has not yet given details on where Trump will go, what he will do and whom he plans to visit.
It will be Trump’s second visit to the nation’s most populous state since his election. He made his first visit in March to inspect border wall prototypes in the San Diego area. orderly, phased evacuation, instead of blasting a cellphone alert over an entire area.
Fast-moving wildfire
Phil John, chairman of the Paradise Ridge Fire Safe Council, defended the evacuation plan he helped develop. John said that the wildfire this time was exceptionally fast-moving and hot, and that no plan was going to work perfectly.
When the fire reached the eastern edge of Paradise, six zones were ordered to clear out about 8 a.m.
But almost simultaneously, the gusting winds were carrying embers the size of dinner plates across town, and structures were catching fire throughout the city. Less than an hour later, the entire town was ordered evacuated.
“It didn’t work perfectly,” John said Thursday. “But no one could plan for a fire like that.”
Likewise, Stewart, the forestry professor, said the wildfire that hit Paradise disrupted the orderly evacuation plan because it “was moving too fast. All hell broke loose.”
Satellite images show half the town on fire less than two hours after the first evacuation order.
Stewart said that experts continue to debate how best to issue evacuation orders and no ideal solution has been found.
At the other end of the state, meanwhile, crews continued to gain ground against a blaze of more than 153 square miles that destroyed over 500 structures in Malibu and other Southern California communities. At least three deaths were reported.