President Donald Trump paid a visit to the heart of California‘s devastating Camp Fire to take a look at the scale of the damage caused in the region.
Trump was photographed in Paradise, California, alongside California Gov. Jerry Brown, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and FEMA workers as he visited the area Saturday.
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“We’re going to have to work quickly… Hopefully this is going to be the last of these because this was a really, really bad one,” the president said while addressing reporters, the Associated Press writes.
“I think everybody’s seen the light and I don’t think we’ll have this again to this extent,” Trump said in Paradise, the California town that was virtually destroyed by the massive wildfire.
During his visit, Trump pledged that improved forest management racists would diminish future risks of fires as devastating as the Camp Fire. His statement echoes his initial reaction to the fire last weekend, where he blamed local officials and threatened to take away federal funding. His claims were discounted by many voices in the California community, reminding the president he had already taken funds away from forest management efforts in the past.
A few hours later, Trump arrived in the Malibu area to the see the effects of the Woolsey fire and toured an operation center, met with response commanders and praised the work of firefighters, law enforcement and representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
At least 71 people died across Northern California due to the Camp Fire with more than 1,000 people still missing. The Camp Fire is currently 50 percent contained with around 5,5000 firefighters and first responders working around the clock in their efforts to contain it.
Reporters asked the president if the historic devastation of the fire caused him to rethink his opinion on climate change and he said no.
Along with visiting the sites of the fires, Trump also said he would met with people impacted by the mass shooting at the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks before returning to Washington.
“We’ve never seen anything like this in California,” he said. “It’s total devastation.”
He later added of the damage, “I think people have to see this really to understand it.”
He pledged that Washington will be doing its part to help in aid efforts in the state and urged the House’s Republican leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, to pay him a visit at the White House to secure the funding needed to help.
The Woolsey Fire in Southern California, which caused devastation in Ventura County, is currently 69 percent contained. The Hill Fire, which was also causing destruction in the same area, was fully contained Friday night.
