Mr Trump, who had previously been heavily criticized for not paying much attention to the crisis before, interrupted a Western campaign to make a two-hour visit to the airport at McClellan Park outside Sacramento, where Air Force One descended through the smoky haze. One of the biggest fires nearby is now largely held back, more than 363,000 acres recently burned down.
As soon as the president stepped off the plane at Sacramento McClellan Airport, where the smell of smoke filled the air, he, without waiting for his scheduled briefing, told reporters that the fire was caused by poor forest management, not climate change.
“When trees fall after a short period of time, they get very dry – really like matches,” Trump said. “And they can explode. Also leaves. When you have dried leaves on the ground, it is just fuel for the fire. “
However, in a subsequent briefing, Governor Gavin Newsom and his chief environmental advisor pushed the president to acknowledge the role of climate change. Mr. Newsom, a Democrat, did so with great courtesy, reaffirming his working relationship with the president, thanking him for federal assistance and agreeing that forest management needs to be improved.
But Mr. Newsom noted that only 3 percent of California’s land is under state control, while 57 percent is federal forest land, that is, administered by the president under federal law.
“As you suggest, I value the working relationship,” said Mr. Newsom. But he said climate change was clearly a factor. “Something is happening to the plumbing in the world, and we humbly start from a point of view where we claim that there is science, and the observable evidence is clear that climate change is real and that makes things worse.”
