Earlier today President Trump traveled to McClellan California for a briefing on the current status of current efforts to battle California wildfires. The briefing was held in a Cal Fire hangar. [Video and Transcript Below]
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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Great to be here. Great to be with the Governor. We’ve been speaking a lot about the problem, and it’s a big problem, and it’ll get solved. We want to pay our love and respect, and we say “God bless you” to those that were killed in this horrible fire, because it’s a series of fire. You put them together, and it’s a big monster, Gavin. Right?
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: A big monster.
THE PRESIDENT: But we are showing and give unwavering support for the people of California and, I have to say, for the state of Washington and Oregon, who we’re very much in touch with — also declaring your declarations. We have declarations for all three. The governor of California called me up, and we immediately signed the declaration. I think a lot of people would take a lot longer, but we wanted it fast. And I want to thank all of the FEMA people for doing such a great job. We really appreciate it. They’ve been fantastic. They’ve been fantastic.
And thank you to Gavin Newsom; Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf; FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor; and all of the people — state and local leaders. They join us today.
And we’re having a separate news conference, a little bit later, on some other subjects. And I just want to thank everybody. It’s been pretty amazing.
In August, I approved a major disaster declaration for California. I’ve approved, I think, Gavin, about 40 Stafford Act declarations — so, very quickly, because we want to get this thing taken care of — including fire management assistant grants to help multiple states stop the fires. More than 28,000 firefighters and first responders are combatting the fires in California, Oregon, and Washington. Over 230 soldiers are fighting the August complex fire, and that’s the largest fire in California. That’s the big one. That’s the biggest.
And we want to thank all of the brave fighters. We want to thank these incredible people. The first responders, service members who are racing to the extreme peril, really, of their lives, and extreme danger.
Soon after the event, I’ll present the Distinguished Flying Cross to seven military heroes who recently braved raging fire and suffocating smoke to save lives. So we have seven people that were recommended very strongly by your representatives. And we’re going to give them a very nice medal — a very important medal for — a U.S. medal that’s very powerful, very important. So I know you like that.
Together, we’ll keep the people safe. I want to thank the governor for the job he’s done. We’ve had great coordination, great relationship. I know we come from different sides of the planet, but we actually have a very good relationship. A good man.
And, Governor, would you like to say something? Please.
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: Well, it’s great to have you back here in the state, Mr. President. Thank you for being here, in particular, with two of the Coast Guard aircrafts that we’re now bringing into the California family that are being retrofitted, these C-130s. Just an example — another example of the partnership between the federal government and the state of California. That partnership, of course, extended with the incredible collaborative spirit of FEMA.
Pete has done an amazing job. He’s known by first name as “Pete,” out here in the state of California. Bob Fenton, his regional director. We’re joined by Thom Porter, the chief of CAL FIRE; head of natural resources Wade Crowfoot.
Pleased to have the Fresno County Mayor here, [DEL: Mayor :DEL] [Sheriff] Mims. And, of course, supervisor from up north in Siskiyou was kind enough to come all the way down. We’ve got fires from Siskiyou County, right up there at the border of Oregon, all the way down to the Mexican border.
About a month ago, literally to the day, we began to have a series of 14,000 lightning strikes over a three-day period; 1,100 fires have sparked in the last month; 2.8 million acres, just in the last 30 days, have burned — unprecedented in California history; 3.2 million over the course of this calendar year.
There’s over 16,500 firefighters currently out on the lines. And I’m very pleased and I’m very grateful, Mr. President, that you’re recognizing some of the other heroes, those National Guardsmen and women that did an extraordinary job saving the lives of hundreds and hundreds of people stranded with some of these most intense fires.
You mentioned the August complex: 789,000 acres, the largest in California history. We have a series of forest fires, but also brush fires and grass fires that we’re tackling. We’ve made great progress in the last few weeks, though tragically we’ve lost 24 lives, so far, to these battles; 4,200 plus structures have been lost and 44,000 people have evacuated.
I want to thank you and acknowledge the work that you’ve done to be immediate, in terms of your response to our FMAG requests — 14. We were just talking — Mark Ghilarducci is the head of the Office of Emergency Services — this may be a record that the state has received in the FMAG support, as well as the major disaster declaration, which you referenced, on August 22nd, which was profoundly significant, not only to help us support our mutual aid system, but also individuals that are in desperate need of support.
We can agree to disagree, and I appreciate your frame on the politics of this. But let me just acknowledge two things briefly, and I’ll turn it back to you. There’s no question, when you look past this decade and looking past almost 1,000-plus years, that we have not done justice on our forest management. I don’t think anyone disputes that. I want to acknowledge we have our U.S. Forest representative here.
The state of California, your administration just entered into a first-of-its-type commitment, over the next 20 years, to double our vegetation management and forest management.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s right.
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: I want to thank you for supporting that effort, funding that effort. We acknowledge our role and responsibility to do more in that space.
But one thing is fundamental: 57 percent of the land in this state is federal forest land; 3 percent is California. So we really do need that support. We need that emphasis of engagement. And we are fully committed to working with you to advance that cause.
And final point: I’d be negligent — and this is not — and we’ve known each other too long — and, as you suggest, the working relationship, I value. We obviously feel very strongly that the hots are getting hotter, the dries are getting drier. When we’re having heat domes, the likes of which we’ve never seen in our history; the hottest August ever in the history of the state; the ferocity of these fires; the drought, five-plus years; losing 163 million trees to that drought — something has happened to the plumbing of the world. And we come from a perspective, humbly, where we submit the science is in and observed evidence is self-evident that climate change is real, and that is exacerbating this.
And so I think there’s an area of, at least, commonality on vegetation and forest management. But, please, respect — and I know you do — the difference of opinion out here, as it relates to this fundamental issue on the issue of climate change.
THE PRESIDENT: Absolutely.
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: Appreciate that.
THE PRESIDENT: Chad, please.
ACTING SECRETARY WOLF: Well, thank you, Mr. President, for coming to Sacramento today and, again, taking that decisive action that we heard the Governor talk about in really pulling the full resources of the federal government here to California, as well as to other areas out here in the West.
Let me just — to reiterate, the great partnership that we have between FEMA, and the U.S. Forest Service, CAL FIRE, OES, the governor’s office. It’s really the partnership — it’s really a model that we have out here in California that we think is just fantastic. It’s getting a lot of support locally here, very quickly. So I just wanted to reiterate that and say thank you to our partners for what you do every day.
Let me just say they also do a great job on mutual aid. So they pull in a number of fire resources from outside of the state, as well as country, for that matter. We were talking earlier about some international partners that they have here, and we’re happy to support that as well.
And then let me just say thanks, as you did, Mr. Se- — Mr. President, to the brave firefighters and all the first responders that are responding every day to the fires that we see here. Those are the — those are the heroes of the day, and we’re just happy to be part of that process; happy to support them with the resources through your office, Mr. President; and just really, again, look forward to the partnership we have here and continuing to push that along.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, they’re doing a great job, and they really have over the years. We’ve — it’s a tough — it’s a tough battle, but they’ve never let us down. Incredible what they’re able to do, and the risk and the danger.
Pete Gaynor, please. FEMA.
ADMINISTRATOR GAYNOR: Sir, you’re going to hear this constantly about the partnership. I can’t say enough about the federal, the state, counties, tribes working together out here in California, from the governor on down. It is a true team effort.
And I know — you know, through the major disaster decs and FMAGs have allowed the governor’s team to exercise all the resources that the federal government has to protect — to respond and protect life, and that’s the number one priority. I know we’re going to be working on debris removal, and then lastly, protection of the waters- — watershed event follow-on disasters come the wet season.
So, together, I couldn’t ask — be prouder to be part of this team in California.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s great. Thank you, Pete. Great job. Let everybody know what we think. Incredible job.
So, Wade and Thom, please.
MR. CROWFOOT: Yeah, well, from our perspective, there is amazing partnership on the ground, and there needs to be. As the governor said, we’ve had temperatures explode this summer. You may have learned that we broke a world record in the Death Valley: 130 degrees. But even in Greater LA: 120-plus degrees. And we’re seeing this warming trend make our summers warmer but also our winters warmer as well.
So I think one area of mutual agreement and priority is vegetation management, but I think we want to work with you to really recognize the changing climate and what it means to our forests, and actually work together with that science; that science is going to be key. Because if we — if we ignore that science and sort of put our head in the sand and think it’s all about vegetation management, we’re not going to succeed together protecting Californians.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay. It’ll start getting cooler.
MR. CROWFOOT: I wish —
THE PRESIDENT: You just watch.
MR. CROWFOOT: I wish science agreed with you.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t think science knows, actually.
Thom, please.
MR. PORTER: Mr. President, if you’re — if you’re okay, I’d like to approach the map.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I’d love that. Thank you.
MR. PORTER: (Inaudible.) (Off-mic.) But I wanted to approach the map because what this displays is very simply — all that we need is (inaudible) — all of those agencies included. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The yellow is our (inaudible), and then that 3 percent — you can’t really see — it’s scattered out here; that’s the state (inaudible).
But what we have showing here is the ownership and then the fires that we’re currently fighting, all the way from — down near the Mexican border within eight miles of the Mexican border, all the way into Oregon. So we got 1,000 miles spread between these fires. We have about — in order to put a line around these fires, with all the partnership we were talking about, we have to cut lines — scrape a line in the ground from here to Chicago. So it’s a lot of dirt we have to move.
THE PRESIDENT: And why is that? Why are you doing that?
MR. PORTER: You have to put a line between the green and the black in order to put a fire out.
THE PRESIDENT: Really?
MR. PORTER: We do.
So what we’re seeing is: In the south here, and in around 2000, we had beetle kill that caused large fires — the Cedar Fire, the (inaudible). Huge fires in 2000. In the 2010s, through the (inaudible), massive beetle kill in this area and large fires (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: Would those trees have died anyway from the beetle kill?
MR. PORTER: They die from beetles, from drought.
THE PRESIDENT: So they were largely dead, or the area was largely dead in terms of the trees?
MR. PORTER: They die from the beetle kill, and now they’re being burned up by the fires.
Now we’re also seeing —
THE PRESIDENT: Do you view that differently? When the trees are dead and the whole area — because I know the beetle kill has been terrible.
MR. PORTER: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: So do you view that differently? And now you’re going to be clearing it or doing whatever
you’re going to do?
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: A hundred and sixty-three million. So it’s — boy, it’s a hell of a chop, right, to start clearing that out.
THE PRESIDENT: But those trees are dead and, therefore, they’re very flammable, very explosive.
MR. PORTER: They are. They are.
And so then we (inaudible) all the (inaudible) forests — the Redwood region. It doesn’t burn. More than a few hundred acres on occasion. But this year, we have 85,000, plus almost 60,000, plus these fires are getting into Redwood as well. We’re going to have over (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: So why is — because of the thickness, the power of tree? Why aren’t they burning?
MR. PORTER: They have bark that’s about two feet thick.
THE PRESIDENT: And they’re very wet.
MR. PORTER: And they’re very much — they’re very wet. They’re very resilient to fire.
THE PRESIDENT: Are you losing some Redwoods or almost none?
MR. PORTER: Some Redwoods are dying, but most of them will be okay. It’s everything that’s getting (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: No kidding. That’s something. I never heard that before.
So, with time, they could go, but the fact is they don’t go with the fires. That’s a fantastic —
MR. PORTER: Yeah, they’re 2,000 years old in that area.
THE PRESIDENT: That is so incredible.
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: It’s incredible to see.
THE PRESIDENT: Think of that. Yeah.
MR. PORTER: So that’s kind of the landscape —
THE PRESIDENT: So your giant Redwoods are where? What area? The giant Redwoods.
MR. PORTER: So we have coastal Redwoods and then we have giant Sequoia, which is — they’re the biggest (inaudible) of a tree.
THE PRESIDENT: And they’re in good shape?
MR. PORTER: They’re getting burned, but they will also survive. Those ancient trees will survive. But this fire down here, the (inaudible) complex is —
THE PRESIDENT: Will the bark regenerate on the outside, eventually?
MR. PORTER: The bark will continue to accumulate on the outside, and then the tree will continue to (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: Do you see a big difference?
MR. PORTER: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Will that change with time, where you don’t see it? Or will you always know there was a fire there?
MR. PORTER: We’ll always know there was a fire.
THE PRESIDENT: You’ll always know, on the Redwoods.
MR. PORTER: They get scars over time.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
MR. PORTER: And that’s how we can tell —
THE PRESIDENT: Well, that in itself is a shame, when you think, right? That in itself is a shame, so. That’s an incredible story. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Mark, would you like to say something?
MR. GHILARDUCCI: Well, Mr. President, first of all, thanks for being here. The term I use here is a term I use — “one team, one fight” — and it really does represent everything that you’re seeing today. All the agencies that we’re working with — before, during, and then after these disasters occur — I couldn’t be more pleased. Our partnership with FEMA has been fantastic.
Right now, you know, as you mentioned, you’ve provided a major disaster for 11 counties within the state — different categories. And many of the people who have lost things have already started to register with FEMA, and that’s been really a beneficial support to us.
THE PRESIDENT: Right. Right.
MR. GHILARDUCCI: So we appreciate that.
And the mitigation is really, really critical. You know, since 2017, we’ve done 94 projects, about 138 million dollars’ worth of mitigation focused on fire prevention. It’s a whole variety of different kinds of projects and programs within the wild land and people who we call the WUI, the Wildland-Urban Interface, to try to buy down the amount of impacts that these fires are occurring. And so we really appreciate that. All these new fires and this new declaration provides additional mitigation funds, which we will turn back around and continue to support the mitigation efforts.
THE PRESIDENT: How many individual fires do you have?
MR. GHILARDUCCI: I think we have, right now, actively, about 29 major fires.
THE PRESIDENT: So when you add them all up, this is about as big as it’s ever been, right?
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: Yeah, I mean, 1,100 just since — I mean, think about that: 1,100 fire starts in the last 29 days — 29 complexes (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: So we all put them out — most of them were put out early?
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: We’re making tremendous progress. The largest — the three largest, they’re still active. Two of them are substantially contained.
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: The August, we still have a lot of work to do.
MR. CROWFOOT: And, Governor, if I could, just for the President, this is a bar chart that shows the acreage burned over the years. The top bar is this year. And the real scary part, Mr. President, we’re only partway through the season.
THE PRESIDENT: Right. Right.
MR. CROWFOOT: The worst fire that you obviously visited, the Paradise fire, happened in October.
THE PRESIDENT: That was a bad one.
MR. CROWFOOT: So we’re still staring down the barrel of worst fires potentially this year.
THE PRESIDENT: We were there together. Let me ask you, in Paradise — so did they have — it was like a blowtorch, right? Because the winds are 85 miles an hour. Nobody has ever seen anything like that. So that was different. Has there ever been anything like that in terms of the power and the heat?
MR. CROWFOOT: Well, I’ll tell you this, sir: The Creek fire that the Sheriff evacuated folks from is generating some of the worst heat in Fresno and Madera counties that’s ever been experienced, creating its own weather cloud that almost looked like a mushroom cloud.
THE PRESIDENT: I see. So that creates the heat also. That’s incredible.
Would you like to say something, please?
SHERIFF MIMS: Yes, sir. Well, thank you, Mr. President, for coming and visiting California. And behalf of Fresno County, who I’m speaking for today, I want to thank you for your visit.
Beginning on September 4th, our Creek fire started, and it impacted not only the residents, but utility infrastructure that services California.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s right. That’s right. That’s a big problem isn’t it, huh? How is that — how is that going?
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: Progress. We got the largest utility in the United States, PG&E, out of bankruptcy in record time with —
THE PRESIDENT: Good.
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: — with firm commitments to make sure they never walk back down that path.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. That’s a lot of — that’s a lot of utilities that are burning up though.
Go ahead.
SHERIFF MIMS: So our fire, right now, is over 200,000 acres, and it’s really more than any single, local government can take care of, and so we are asking for assistance. We’ve already made some progress today by getting ahold of FEMA, and I made a request from Pete to have a representative right in our command post, and we’re making that happen. So that’s going to be very valuable for us.
Not only has it impacted our woodland, but the families that have lived there for generations in that area. The Big Creek hydroelectric power generating system that served California for over 100 years is destroyed, as well as the people that lived there and their homes that operate that system.
One major concern in the future is erosion, slope stability, ash runoff, and possible mud slides as a result.
THE PRESIDENT: So what’s going to take the place of that generator? What — what are you going to do?
SHERIFF MIMS: We have to actually restart it in Southern California, Edison.
THE PRESIDENT: So you’ll be able to fix it and restart it?
SHERIFF MIMS: Yes.
MR. GHILARDUCCI: (Inaudible) process.
THE PRESIDENT: It’s big damage? Big.
MR. GHILARDUCCI: Well, it was a hydroelectric plant that was — it wasn’t directly damaged, but there was damage leading up to the facility.
THE PRESIDENT: I see.
MR. GHILARDUCCI: And so we’re going to mitigate all that now.
THE PRESIDENT: I love hydro — hydroelectric. I love. I think it’s great. You must like that. I love it. I love the hydroelectric. Go ahead. Please.
SHERIFF MIMS: So, so far, we’ve had over 300 structures that have burned, but we could’ve had many more, and I need to commend the efforts that CAL FIRE gave to us not only with pre-work by doing some tree mortality mitigation —
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
SHERIFF MIMS: — but during that fire, they were able to cut some breaks that allowed — (inaudible) law enforcement to evacuate over 20,000 people from these areas. And so they just did a great job, and I’m glad to report that, in Fresno County, we’ve had no loss of life.
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
SHERIFF MIMS: And I will say that, in Fresno County, we understand that we need a strong partnership with our federal government. And we are ready, willing, and able to be your partner on this. We support —
THE PRESIDENT: And your state government. Right?
SHERIFF MIMS: Of course. Of course.
THE PRESIDENT: That’s going good, right?
SHERIFF MIMS: Of course. We’re getting what we need.
THE PRESIDENT: I have no doubt. Good.
SHERIFF MIMS: In fact —
THE PRESIDENT: We had to mention that. (Laughs.)
SHERIFF MIMS: (Laughs.) Of the areas that we’ve mitigated, I think, in Fresno County, we got five of those. So, thank you.
THE PRESIDENT: So you’re working well with everybody.
SHERIFF MIMS: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Okay.
SHERIFF MIMS: Yes.
THE PRESIDENT: Good. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. Thank you.
Please.
MR. HAUPT: Thank you, Mr. President, for — is this on? Thank you, Mr. President, for being here and listening to a very rural community and county in California. I’m at the far extreme end of the state up there that they were pointing to.
My county continues to repeat the things that you saw in
Paradise when you were there, on a smaller scale. The town of Happy Camp, this year, is under the Slater fire that took off. And in a 24-hour period, we lost 258 structures in a very small town. Half of my population is displaced.
At this point in time, we have 158 homes completely destroyed.
THE PRESIDENT: Will that population come back?
MR. HAUPT: Sir, that’s a tough question because these are very poor people anyway. And they’re living through the downturn of the timber economy at this point, and there’s very low employment in this area.
We are completely surrounded by federal timber at this point that needs some active forest management that would both improve the economic — the economy of the area, as well as even increase the water flow that is in shortage in California, in some of these places.
I’ve — you know, personally, I come to you as a forester, an elected official, and a past land manager for the U.S. Forest Serve, and firefighter.
THE PRESIDENT: Right.
MR. HAUPT: In this area, I’ve worked with the UC Berkeley and UC Davi- — and UC Merced on some studies of our forests in the northern region, which historically have been pretty asbestos-like — are carrying four times the density that they did in 1930. So we have both the increase in brush in the wildland interface, as well as the lack of management, producing these extreme densities.
And climate change is — climate change is — and I can’t do much about that, because as a forester actively managing that forest, I can manipulate fuels and I can do that in a pretty short order.
I applaud you for the work you’ve done. I applaud you for the farm bill authorities. Our county just completed a master stewardship agreement with the U.S. Forest Service. And we have about a half million-acre project that’s ready to go across all boundaries in our state and —
THE PRESIDENT: Good.
MR. HAUPT: — the four National Forests that you (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: Well, Gavin is working on that with me. And we — you know, you make money, too. You’re cutting down trees. You’re thinning it out and you’re selling those trees for a lot of money. And it’s really pretty good in a lot of ways.
And I guess the — one of the things are the cuts. The big — whether it’s 50 yards or 100 yards — but the cuts to stop it from spreading. And that’s always tough environmentally, but, you know, they can do it in a way that’s pretty good. And I think now the environmentalists have come a long way after watch- — you know, watching this.
MR. HAUPT: Yeah.
THE PRESIDENT: The ones that really want to take care of a problem, they’ve come a long way.
So they’ll be thinning it out then. You’re working a plan to thin it out.
MR. HAUPT: That’s what the plan is right now. I will say that, you know, we have excellent working relationships with CAL FIRE as well.
THE PRESIDENT: Good.
MR. HAUPT: And we need — we need to marry the state programs with the federal programs across boundaries and jurisdictional boundaries so that we’re effective in moderating large-fire behavior.
THE PRESIDENT: Good.
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: And, Mr. President, just to the Supervisor’s point, that’s exactly what the stewardship partnership that we advanced with your administrations do — will do in the next 20 years —
THE PRESIDENT: Good.
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: — is we’re sharing maps, we’re sharing resources, we’re prioritizing, we’re doubling the number of acres — federally managed, state-managed. And I will say just, humbly, we got to double it still. Meaning the partnership was significant. It was the first in California’s history with the U.S. government. But we’re going to need to do a lot more in the extent —
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Well, I’m all for it.
GOVERNOR NEWSOM: — we could provide (inaudible).
THE PRESIDENT: That’s something I feel so strongly about. You can knock this down to nothing. You know, you go to Europe and different places in Europe — countries where they’re forest countries — and they’re very, very strong on management and they don’t have a problem. They really don’t have with, as they say, more explosive trees than we have in California.
So, thank you very much for your comments. But we’re working on that very hard together. And I think we’re totally in sync. I really think we’re totally in sync.
We’re going to see you in a few minutes for the award ceremony. So thank you very much, everybody. Thank you.
The president comes to offer aid and comfort and these critters start up with the hokey global warming religion. Give it a rest already.
Climate change – it’s a tenet of their new religion; as true believers they must convert others or somethin;.
If they believe in climate change, why didn’t they prepare for it by cleaning up the dead trees/fuel in the forests? Their policies of inaction of fuel removal/forest management caused the firestorms.
Probably because their Gaia faerie helpers told them not to since the little elves and undines need their leaves to play and hide under?
The sun and solar flares are more responsible for climate than man made global warming. If solar flares go quiet, we cool down, if they are active, we heat up. Warming is better than cooling actually. Ask a physicist . It is science and more complicated than that, but it is science.
Exactly. My question too and it’s too bad no one asked them why they haven’t followed proper forestry policies for all these years when it seems their state burns every year.
No one? The President clearly implied they have been bad managers. Just another reason they hate him – he states the truth.
Now if you meant the enemedia, I agree!
Loved all his probing questions.
Of course not the Pres. I was referring to the clown car media even the somewhat conservative ones. The other people at the table didn’t say anything about forestry management being utilized to it’s full extent either that I heard anyway. Kind of the elephant in the room situation.
Because they thought the rising oceans would extinguish any fires that started.
The Global Warming Emperors and High Priests have no clothes.
Global warming is equivalent to systemic racism. Neither can be denied (confirmed either) because they are ideals. There are no laws that can be changed, added, or removed to fix. They both share another characteristic in that they can be solved in the same manner……and it’s simple empower the Left.
luke: I’m pretty sure that one causes the other, but, I’m not sure which.
‘Empower the left’ Gavin worthless is left, that’s the problem. Help, sure no money at all. Federal land burning? Somebody put a pillow over Gavin’s face.
California, wth are you thinking putting him in office he’s an idiot. Climate change because your electric poles are never taken care of. Because you want piles of dry debris all over. Because you pump every single drop of fresh water out into rich farmers fields. That’s climate change? No, that’s morons running a state.
Climate change stops the burn at the Canadian border, like magic. The Eco-warriors will never admit their idiocy. Instead, ‘climate change’.
Grifters will grift non stop. Shills will shill for them. Marks will never admit they have been had. Libtard bullies will never stop their violence.
Arsonists love California. What fun.
“… stops at the Canadian border, like magic”
If you’re basing that on the photo/map that shows not fires in California you might want to stop repeating that, at risk of looking foolish.
As discussed here yesterday or day before, that map only showed US fires and a couple in Mexico. Whoever made the map probably hadn’t gotten a data dump from Canada
Here are the Canadian fires:
correction
If you’re basing that on the photo/map that shows no fires in Canada
please disregard that map, it’s from 2018
my apology for not vetting more carefully before posting
Ok, I found a Canada interactive mapper that shows fire hospots as detected by satellite sensing systems
Here’s a map from couple days ago, Sep 11, there are fewer Canada fires since then, as perhaps they’ve gotten a handle on putting some out
Certainly far fewer in Canada, probably a couple reasons
– a Canadian here at Treehouse said they still do controlled burns in Canada, not so much in the US anymore, they’ve been fought by the environmentalists
– North Pacific storms often get routed up into Canada, making it wetter generally; the ‘Pineapple Express’ pattern that routes storms into Canada is more rare
but not NO fires across the border; I still suspect the James Woods map was compiled with no Canada data
Here’s the mapper site if you want to monkey around with it … if anyone knows of a US one, pls post
https://cwfis.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/maps/fm3?type=tri&year=2020&month=9&day=14
… click that map to enlarge, and blow it up further in your browser if needed
If Newsome really wants to make progress, he could try changing the H O L L Y W O O D sign to R E P E N T ! Couldn’t hurt. Might help!
“Can you say “forest management”, Gavin? That’s very good. And now we’re going to learn a new word. Can you say “ANTIFA”, Gavin? No? Well, keep trying and we’ll let you sit at the Grown-Up table.”
PDJT has been talking about forest management every “fire season” and in particular this season. He let Gruesome lecture him and plead for money. PDJT listened attentively smiling a few times knowing Gruesome will not be getting a drop of Piglosi’s bailout bill.
Next stop was to honor the NG and their assistance in the firefighting efforts.
Great press conference. Differences on climate change but overriding was the outstanding cooperation with the Fed government. Trump presents himself with an understanding of the issues at hand and speaks of the future management of the problems.
Trump wins today but tomorrow behind Trump’s back, they will find opportunity to back stab him. We all know the game by now.
I loved your great President extracting the urine out of GruesomeNewsome with his reference to Hydro Electric grown up power generation.
The greentards hate it as much, or more, than nuclear power.
Btw who was that idiot Crowfoot? I thought crowsfeet are what Natzi Pelosi has around her eyes.
Can you say “environmentalists’, Gavin? That’s why you have forest fires. The Clean Air Act makes it next to impossible to do controlled burning because of “air pollution”. Of course, the air pollution from the wildfires is apparently of no concern. Idiots.
Man did the calculations in an article on American Thinker, At 2.5M acres burnt the CO2 load on the environment was already more than three times that of all auto emissions for a year.
Read it. I believe the same article pointed out that California managed with difficulty to perform controlled burns on 13,000 acres when the area in need exceeds 20,000.000 acres. (Well, maybe not anymore…)
Funny, but across the border in Canada’s British Columbia the fire map has a few fires (maybe two) in the entire Province. I guess that climate change stops at the 49th Parallel. No fires to speak of in Mexico either so it must stop in San Diego as well. The weather here in Southern California has been very mild. In fact we’ve had 50° nights and 80° days all summer long so they are lying about the record hot temperature here this year. Of course, it snowed 18″ in Colorado and New Mexico last week when the hot spell hit here. Labor Day weekend was the first time it went over 100° in two years here. Newsom was lying today in the press conference!
Yeah I posted James Woods tweet of that map. No fires east of the Missouri River either.
whoever made the ‘James Woods’ map likely didn’t have the Canadian data
I posted a map of Canada fires just upthread
I will check. How about Mexico and east of the Missouri River?
I just focused on Canada for now and found a mapper site, it’s upthread
I was mostly concerned that we not go off half-cocked with a “fires stop at Canadian border” story and get ridiculed when found it’s not true
Totally agree, although we could blame it on Mr Woods. /s
The map that Woods used had few if any fires East of the Missouri River and none in Northern Mexico.
see the new map I posted at end of thread
James Woods’ map was way off, whoever made it
his tweet with that map is no longer there
maybe someone tipped him how bad is was
Be interesting to find out if Canadians manage their forests differently than California which doesn’t really manage them at all!
Canadians actually cut their timber for use is one difference. CA would not even let the lumber company cull the trees killed by tree beetles while the wood was still useable. The whole western shore of Lake Tahoe near Reno was covered with them at one point. They dry out and become excellent fuel for future fires if left in place.
“MR. HAUPT: In this area, I’ve worked with the UC Berkeley and UC Davi- — and UC Merced on some studies of our forests in the northern region, which historically have been pretty asbestos-like — are carrying four times the density that they did in 1930. So we have both the increase in brush in the wildland interface, as well as the lack of management, producing these extreme densities.
And climate change is — climate change is — and I can’t do much about that, because as a forester actively managing that f airedorest, I can manipulate fuels and I can do that in a pretty short order.”
Oh yeah.
Just like the sun coming up in the morning, or getting that little mention of “evolution” in each and every nature show aired on PBS, got to throw in the “climate change” phrase, lest you be doxxed away as being labeled a dreaded “climate change denier”.
MR. CROWFOOT: I wish science agreed with you.
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t think science knows, actually.
Have my climatologist call your climatologist and we’ll do lunch.
Oh no , it’s science again…science says we should wear masks…oh no…science says if we all kill ourselves then the fires will end…oh no…I think I will commit suicide so the planet will “heal” and humans will not deface it…Science is always right…oh no in the 70’s science said we would freeze to death…oh no now we will bake to death…oh know if you don’t believe science you are a moron conspiracy theorist…oh no, I shall go drink the poison hemlock so that the planet will go on…
THE PRESIDENT: Aren’t you glad your Mother considered you a Child rather than a Choice?
THE PRESIDENT: So, Since you believe in Science, Do you wear underarm deodorant pads at the Beach?
So was Newsome saying “blame lack of forestry management but its almost all federal land?” So are the Feds not doing their part? I am confused
Confused me, too. I find it hard to believe that Pres. Trump wasn’t aware of that.
These California scumbags are trying to blame this on the Feds aka the President. But they are the ones who have been blocking sane forest management, just like their energy policy causes brown-outs. Recommended:
https://amgreatness.com/2020/09/09/environmentalists-destroyed-californias-forests/
FTA ““Sen. Feinstein blames Sierra Club for blocking wildfire bill,” reads the provocative headline on a 2002 story in California’s Napa Valley Register. Feinstein had brokered a congressional consensus on legislation to thin “overstocked” forests close to homes and communities, but could not overcome the environmental lobby’s disagreement over expediting the permit process to thin forests everywhere else.
Year after year, environmentalists litigated and lobbied to stop efforts to clear the forests through timber harvesting, underbrush removal, and controlled burns. Meanwhile, natural fires were suppressed and the forests became more and more overgrown. The excessive biomass competed for the same water, soil, and light a healthier forest would have used, rendering all of the trees and underbrush unhealthy. It wasn’t just excess biomass that accumulated, but dried out and dead biomass.”
The result nothing was done to management the forests since really the mid 70s!
Yes, there is LRA, SRA and FRA (Local, State and Federal Responsibility area). 6 counties (Santa Barbara, Ventura, Orange, Los Angeles, Kern and ?? Can’t think of it right now) get paid by the state to protect SRA, CAL Fire responds and manages the SRA for the rest of CA. The USFS, BLM and BIA respond and protect federal land on the various federal forests, BLM and BIA lands. Lots of rules on Fed fires, ie cant used mechanized equipment (even chainsaws) on some Fed fires.
Each of the major wild land firefighting agencies in Ca, CAL Fire, USFS and BLM conduct prescribed burns and other activities during winter/spring to mitigate threats however, sequestration budgets (thanks Paul Ryan, Nancy P et al) during the Obama years hurt the feds ability to do a lot of what they wanted.
Let’s just say it’s interesting watching the initial who’s in charge. CAL Fire employees work 24-hour shifts on the fires, USFS call it a day at 16-hours but get paid hazard pay, night differentials when assigned to a “fire” (yes, there is shenanigans with when a fire is 100% controlled based on this). USFS firefighters get to sleep in tents, CAL Fire employees have in their Collective Bargaining Agreement that they get to sleep in hotels ?. Local government firefighters typical have the highest hourly rate so they love going on assignments.
It’s an interesting process and requires a lot of logistics. In 2008, our county fire dept. (Cal,Fire’s largest unit) had 6 strike teams (30 engines) of city engines in Northern California. That was a big fire season too, Lots of people were stuck on-duty 30 plus days.
Why did Bill and Melinda Gates just spend $45 million on a beachfront house a few yards from the Pacific Ocean in San Diego if it’s going to be underwater anytime in the next century???
…’cause he is also buying a $640 million super yacht powered by hydrogen. Billionaire boy can survive.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/02/08/bill-gates-becomes-first-buy-500m-hydrogen-powered-super-yacht/
Obama also just purchased a $15 million beachfront home on the ocean in Martha’s Vinyard. The poster boy for climate change didn’t read the New York Times article a few months ago that the entire East Coast would be underwater and Manhattan was building dikes?
Obama also just purchased a $15 million beachfront home on the ocean in Martha’s Vinyard. The poster boy for climate change didn’t read the New York Times article a few months ago that the entire East Coast would be underwater and Manhattan was building dikes?
Al Gore, inventor of the internet, when “An Inconvenient Truth” was at its most popular bought a $20M+ mansion on the coast in Malibu. Ozero, a megaphone for the climate movement, bought a $15M mansion at Martha’s Vineyard a few years back. Leonardo de Caprio and George Clooney, who spout CC BS all the time regularly fly their private jets wherever they want. They all know it is Leftists propaganda but they all act as good Ministers of Disinformation.
Good for her!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/09/not-climate-change-oregon-woman-catches-arsonist-property-matches-holds-gunpoint-police-arrive-video/
That’s great trigger control. I’d have most likely chipped the mfer.
Gavin Newsom, a soulless ghoul, with absolutely not one iota of compassion in his voice when he speaks.
Yes, he’s a classic psychopath, and a bad one it appears
“…and it’s a big problem, and it’ll get solved.”
How DARE he downplay this problem and act like it’s going to be miraculously gone tomorrow!
Where is this “gone tomorrow” in the discussion?
Knowing President Trump, he’s going to keep pressuring CA authorities to manage the forest correctly so this sort of “big problem” is “solved,” i.e. wildfires are lessened in frequency and size.
Where is this “gone tomorrow” in the discussion?
Knowing President Trump, he’s going to keep pressuring CA authorities to manage the forest correctly so this sort of “big problem” is “solved,” i.e. wildfires are lessened in frequency and size.
Wow – pretty big leap there – the President was being optimistic and you’re – what? Annoyed? Outraged? In what way did he “downplay” the problem?
Watched this earlier on OANN. Newsome was a major suck-up in my humble opinion, but tried to come across as oh so important. President Trump played him masterfully. Quite Presidential and stayed out of the mud with that pig of a Governor. As Genie noted, our President had a few backhands at their expense. 😉
Newscum wants money to repair the damage done by his lack of leadership. I hope the message he ultimately receives is #Sand.
They did not mention the Arsonists. There were 4 so far that have been arrested.
Drug Cartels hate it when Air Interdiction Ops locate and destroy their grows, as well as other crimes. Cartels, and other Mexican criminals light fires to drain resources and occupy authorities away from their crimes.
Oh Really? I am seeing the same eerie red sun in Colorado but houses and entirely new subdivisions go in every week. The West is short of water all of the time but they just make the lawns smaller and push the houses closer together all the while watering berms and ‘green islands’ in the middle of roads until the water runs in the gutters. I have a new middle school with huge football and soccer fields, baseball diamonds etc. going in 1/2 mile away. Completely new building too. Massive building project and the kids can’t attend until the Governor says so. Millions being spent and it’s uninhabitable?
Pesky real science always gets in the way of a liberal lie.
Newsom: it’s Trump’s fault.
Did Gavin just acknowledge that he hasn’t done shit for Forrest management? ?
Yes, although him being an accomplished DemoCommie liar, not in so many words.
I’m shocked, he also admitted during the first brown out that cali got rid of too many nuclear power plants in the last 5 yrs. Not that he said he would bring them back, but still
Yes.
Clear Democrats out of every office so we can get to the point where arsonists actually go to jail- and stay there.
45 days is enough for him to be penetrated.
He looks a little like Nicholas Cage’s character in “Raising Arizona.”
Saw some pictures from relatives…
The California sky looks a lot like Mars; I am praying for the citizens there.
Well I don’t expect the President to fall for climate change crap, we know, who is behind all these fires they are the same ones who’s burning down the cities now that isn’t so hard to see. We know, that they got an angle it’s all political.
The DEMONcrats don’t care about the environment they only care about power.
They can’t seize power without a convenient lie
So let me get this straight.
1. We mismanaged forests for 100 years.
2. Newsom came into office after record fires, and apparently didn’t do enough.
3. What the President doesn’t know is environmentalists PREVENTED THE HARVESTING OF THE TREES KILLED BY THE BEETLES! So it was a lose lose lose. Lose valuable lumber, lose jobs, live and lose the ability to replant and create huge, massive fire breaks. I believe they finally allowed only 3% or 5% of dead trees to be harvested.
4. So there is a MASSIVE backlog of thinning, logging, and controlled burns needed.
5. And the reply is to DOUBLE their efforts? Disaster.
6. Wouldn’t a more reasonable answer be to quadruple or quintuple the “forest management”?
Imagine when you tell people in the pristine and picturesque Tahoe basin – a jewel in California – you are going to thin and log mature trees. Ha! Good luck! Lawsuits for years.
https://images.app.goo.gl/nJfiC3nQYnhB9F1V8
P.S. The beetle infestation is just one massive problem.
We no longer have the logging companies, they were driven out of business. And some of the trees have minimal value. But they still need to be removed. The forests are out of “equilibrium”.
Stand after stand of dense, tall trees prevent new trees, adolescent trees, from growing.
I drove through Napa and Sonoma after the fires 2 years ago, every 2 weeks, after big rainfall, and I didn’t see A SINGLE FIRE LINE, NO THINNING, NOT EVEN ROAD MAINTENANCE on the shoulders of rural roads / main arteries.
These forests were beetle killed for 30 years at least. The Forest Service will blame the EPA, the EPA will blame the Division of Wildlife who will blame the Bureau of Land Management. All operated at the top from DC with no clue about the WEST. It is criminal behavior all around and I have lived here for 40 years. I have seen the excuses, heard the excuses. I watched businesses try to harvest the beetle kill for lumber and have to pay a helicopter to bring out each tree because: NO ROADS ALLOWED (by the EPA usually).
It is unbearable to think this entire country is being controlled by Washington DC.
How can you tell if a man is honest? Works with a woman too.
Just ask him if he believes in global warming, especially as “settled science” and/or something apocalyptic.
If he says he does, you know you are dealing with a crook.
Either that or one of the crook’s sheeple zombies.
Sorry, I will NEVER take advice from the idiots who screwed up California.
NO THANK YOU!
Its now legal to be a child molester in CA, Newsom just signed
I heard that yesterday. Totally disgusting! Rush or one of his sub hosts talked about this law recently and it just excuses pedophiles fro preying on children. It goes way too far.
But then again I tired to get a restraining order on a 21 year old who was sniffing around my 14 year old daughter and a male “judge” denied it. The 21 year old male was picking her up in the middle of the night, crawled out her window, and dropping her off in the early AM. So I don’t think any of them care about laws anyway.
You cannot fix stupid. Work harder Cali patriots to effect change, or leave and go to a state that cares about its citizens. This is environmental genocide of the highest order.
The globalists/climate change fanaticals all believe that the world is overpopulated. That is why… climate change. That is why… Chinese Wuhan Virus. They believe it all.
It wouldn’t hurt them one bit of people died on their watch.
I wouldn’t Pizz on Gavin Newsom if he was on fire and going to start his own wildfire !
I WILL WAIT UNTIL HE DIES SO I CAN PIZZ ON HIS GRAVE THO !
WITH PLEASURE !
While Kimberly’s ex, Gavin who intends to be Potus in 2024 is complimenting the present Potus,
BLM will have nothing of IT….
To wit:
Teenagers!
Homeowners be all like — ‘You Loot; We Shoot!’
I truly enjoyed watching #RecallGavinNewsome eat crow for dinner.
https://recallnewsom.org
Newsom might have just turned California red.
He’s posturing for 2024, but we can deal with that later.
I live in Sacramento and get more than a daily dose of politics, single party that it is.
Gullible Warming! MORE hurricanes . . . MORE POWERFUL hurricanes!
Let’s look at the facts: 1955-1969 there were 44 major Atlantic hurricanes. Fifty years later 2005-2019 there were 41 major Atlantic hurricanes.
More hurricanes? More powerful hurricanes? No . . . more communist B.S.!
I also love our President more every day! Classic President Trump
Number one cause of these forest fires is Left-wing, Libtard, Environmentalist wackos miss-management of the forests.
If the Federal Government owns a lot of the Forests in California it’s time for Donald Trump to sign a Federal Executive Order. Clear all the excess fuel loads, find, arrest and jail the arsonists and jail them for a longtime. Open up the forests to the public and put Federal Forest Wardens in charge of Management. Take the problem away from the Green Democrats who run California.
BINGO
Wrap it up in a jobs program to boot, join the Lumber Corps to clear dead wood on Federal land to save the environment from all that uncontrolled combusted Carbon release. Put a pretty bow on it.
Gavin Newsom would love to have four more years of President Trump. He intends to run for president in 2024 and the last thing he wants is for President Harris to get in his way.
That was called MASTERY
He just made those climate change psychos, in their own words, explain how this isn’t due to climate change.
Amazing
The problem with California isn’t so much the illegal aliens as the citizens who belong to public sector unions. These people have a vested interest in a massive financial scam funded by taxpayers, and they know the Democrat politicians are 100% on board.
(hint) the Left’s “plan” to offset man’s effect (negligible) on the climate has an estimated cost of $100T over a century and could help the temperature by 0.6 degrees Centigrade. That is basically within the measuring accuracy of current instruments and for this you greatly affect the world’s economy especially in third world nations. That is not a very good plan or ROI.
If you are a Global Warming environmental scientist, or a policy wonk writing EPA regulations, or an AWG think tank, a university, a DNC-aligned 501c non profit, the Weather Channel, an environmental engineer in emissions control, or a politician setting up a Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative slush fund, then GW hysteria has been a GREAT ROI for your wallet.
The mistake is thinking all this money was for the “greater” good. It’s a really nice Federal grant system we have going here, it would be a shame if something happened to it.
Ok, to answer a couple ongoing questions:
– yes there are plenty fires in Canada
– yes there are plenty fires in Mexic
– yes there are plenty fires east of the Mississippi
Treeper Zachary Navarre posted 2 days ago a link to NASA’s interactive mapper, which I used to creat this map. Click to enlarge and blow it up further in your browser.
https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#d:2020-09-14..2020-09-15;@-88.8,33.8,4z
Zachary said:
James Woods statement used in conjunction with that map is “fake news”.
It’s a US only source and isn’t showing fires in other countries.
Search “NASA fire information for resource management map” and go to their interactive map. Shows fires over the last 24 hours
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2020/09/12/arson-arrests-being-made-across-the-west-coast-multiple-fires-identified-as-arson-27-people-killed-dozens-missing/comment-page-1/#comment-8766114
that’s “Mexico”
and “Missouri” – ArtofWar was concerned about east of the Missouri River
Wood burn. Remove wood. No burn. Democrats too dumb to understand.
This is called man made US cooling. Here in Milwaukee we no longer get sunny days or cloud free days. We only get hazy sun and more clouds. This is due to the high level particulates much like in a volcanic eruption clouding the sky and cooling things down.
Two main controllers of earth heat temps are Sun Spot activity and volcanic activity. We now have the equivalent of a major volcanic eruption on the west coast.
PS. Remember Co2 has nothing to do with global warming as Co2 holds almost no heat. Water vapor holds 20 times more heat content than Co2 yet watering, water fountains, ponds, lakes, etc. are not banned.
You know what is amazing in all this? None of the networks are talking about the idiots that have been arrested for starting the fires. THEY ALL blame it on climate change…go figure. Antifa is guilty as hell!
Gov Newsom reminds me of a little kid who has been bad but still expects his allowance. He must have been a spoiled brat in his early years. Wonder if he and the other demorats know how to say thank you after Trump pulls them out of their quagmire. As Jesus said to the prostitute”go thy way and sin no more” Trump is heaping hot coals upon their heads.
I wonder if ANY of the treasonous bastards who tried to remove an elected President have realized their wrong doing and called the President to say they were sorry and ask for forgiveness? hmmmm. But they are all working for the dark side and are unable to repent. Their pompous egos will be their downfall.
You can tell Trump has a normal human curiosity, and isn’t afraid to ask questions and express feelings.
I have seen this video a couple of times, here on this website’s comments. It’s only about 8 minutes long. At 2:15 G. Edward Griffin talks about (and this was in 1969!) the fact that one of the communists’ strategies for takeover is to set widespread fires everywhere.
We need to expose the playbooks of the communists. They are very rigid and unimaginative and therefore predictable. We need to get wise to their strategies.
I think there is a pause on setting fires now because armed citizens are wise to the obvious likelihood of arson. They have become hyper-vigilant, and the signs that are posted sure help!
The success of the color revolutions, I have to note, occurred with populations that were not armed. This is the unique key. Thank God for the Second Amendment. Its real purpose is for the people to protect themselves from an over-reaching government.