Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Trump again threatens to withhold wildfire payments to California
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to withhold money to help California cope with wildfires, a day after new Gov. Gavin Newsom asked him to double the federal investment in forest management.
Trump again suggested poor forest management is to blame for California’s deadly wildfires and said he’s ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to stop giving the state money “unless they get their act together.”
Fire scientists say climate change, not poor forest management, is the driving contributor to California’s increasingly destructive wildfires, many of which have not been primarily in forests.
FEMA could not immediately comment because of the government shutdown. Trump has previously threatened to withhold wildfire payments but never followed through.
Hours after Trump’s tweet, the state’s emergency operations agency said FEMA is extending its deadline for victims of deadly November wildfires to seek assistance.
Newsom, a Democrat who took office Monday, said Californians affected by wildfires “should not be victims to partisan bickering.”
Several GOP lawmakers who represent the town of Paradise, which was leveled by a deadly fire in November, said Trump’s tweet was not helpful. “These are American citizens who need our help,” U.S. Rep. Doug LaMalfa said.
Newsom and Govs. Jay Inslee and Kate Brown of Washington and Oregon, respectively, on Tuesday sent a letter to the president asking him to double federal funding for forest management. California has pledged $1 billion over the next five years to ramp up its efforts, which include clearing dead trees that can serve as fuel.
Lawmakers approved that money last year, and Newsom said Tuesday he’ll add an extra $105 million in his upcoming budget for wildfire-related spending.
Newsom and Trump toured the fire devastation in Paradise together in November. At the time, Trump made a comment about Finland minimizing its wildfire threat by “raking and cleaning” forests.
Finland’s president said he had talked to Trump about wildfires in November but didn’t recall discussing raking.
“I’ll defend him on that a little bit,” Newsom said Tuesday. “I think what he was talking about is defensible spaces, landscaping, which has a role to play.”