Ten days after it began, the Camp fire — now considered California’s worst wildfire ever — was still only 60-percent contained. It has burned 149,500 acres and more than 12,790 structures. The death toll in the Northern California blaze reached 76 Saturday. More than 1,275 people are still unaccounted for. Adding to the area’s woes, air quality is terrible and poses a public health hazard. On the hopeful side, weather forecasters are expecting a substantial rainfall in the area by Wednesday, which would be a huge help to those fighting the fire.
In Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, in the southern part of the state, the Woolsey fire is now nearly under control. It has burned down more than a thousand homes and businesses over nearly 100,000 acres. At least three people have died.
On Saturday, President Trump visited the town of Paradise, which has been described as virtually destroyed, with the newly elected next governor of California, Gavin Newsom. (News reports noted that he is the ex-husband of the woman who broke up Donald Trump Junior’s marriage, Kimberly Guilfoyle.)
Inspecting the devastation, the president made a baffling remark about preventing forest fires: “You look at other countries where they do it differently, and it’s a whole different story. I was with the president of Finland, and he said, ‘We’re a forest nation.’ And they spent a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things, and they don’t have any problem.” The president of Finland later remarked that he had told the U.S. president no such thing.
