Trump points fingers while California burns

11/14/18
This year may be remembered for last week’s anti-Trump voter revolt or the advance of the #MeToo movement. But in California, 2018 might be remembered for its monster wildfires. The Camp Fire north of Sacramento is the deadliest wildfire in California’s history, with 48 fatalities as of Tuesday night and scores of people still missing. The fire also set a record for destructiveness, burning nearly 9,000 structures. This carnage comes just three months after the Mendocino Complex Fire broke the record for the largest blaze in California’s books, which came less than a year after another round of huge fires last October. In response to this disaster, President Trump’s callous initial reaction was to insist that the only reason California experiences wildfires is “mismanagement of the forests” and demand that the state “remedy now, or no more Fed payments!” In fact, the Camp Fire is blazing through not forestland but urban-rural zones that have vegetation to burn but are also close to people. The president’s outburst is doubly bizarre because the federal government manages most of the state’s forests. If there is a forest management problem, it is with the U.S. Forest Service’s past budgets, which went increasingly to firefighting rather than care and prevention. More logging would not help prevent wildfires as much as some might think; highly combustible dry brush is the fuel on which wildfires thrive.

Mr. Trump has since changed his tone, and federal aid has flowed to California. But his reaction was not an isolated incident. The president is pushing hard against disaster funding for hurricane-racked Puerto Rico, another place where Mr. Trump is unpopular. Meanwhile, if the president is going to raise the question of how to reduce the likelihood of disasters such as the Camp Fire, he should look at his own policies. Wildfires are getting bigger, more unpredictable and, therefore, more destructive. It is hard to attribute any particular disaster to climate change. But bigger and more destructive blazes are among the consequences experts predict will occur as the world warms. Hotter temperatures lead to drier brush ideal for burning. Warm nighttime temperatures keep fires going at times they used to abate. Droughts followed by large amounts of rainfall can result in a burst of plant growth that sets the stage for future fires. So can longer growing seasons. If Mr. Trump thinks the bill for governmental mismanagement is high now, wait until the costs for his administration’s abdication on climate change come due.

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Rogue Valley said:

Trump points fingers while California burns

An ignition event fanned by strong, dry, unceasing winds.



Per his presidential style, Trump has been a natural-disaster detriment rather than an inspiration. DJT sent disaster relief to the California wildfire areas only three days ago. 59 dead so far and over 300 remain on the missing persons list. Trump will visit fire scorched California (as usual leading from behind and pointing accusing fingers as he does so) this Saturday.

It seems that on November 8, 2018 at approximately 0615 hours, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) experienced an outage on the Caribou-Palermo 115 kV transmission line in Butte County. This coincides with the time of the Camp Fire breakout. PG&E stock has lost 32% of its value during the past two days as it appears the utility may be partially/wholly responsible for the deadly Camp Fire wildfire. PG&E has taken out "approximately $1.4 billion" in insurance against losses from Camp Fire. However, losses could reach $8 billion according to insurers.

Related: California Utility Customers May Be on Hook for Billions in Wildfire Damage

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