Trump to head to California to survey wildfire damage as early as next week

President-elect Donald Trump is planning to hit the ground running as soon as he's inaugurated on Monday and shortly thereafter he'll be traveling to California to survey the wildfire damage. At least 26 have been confirmed dead as winds continue to fuel the fires that have burned over 40,000 acres and reduced to ashes over 12,000 buildings.

Advisers told The Wall Street Journal that the incoming administration is considering a late-week visit to LA. A consideration is the large "footprint" that a presidential visit would create. President Joe Biden was in LA last week when the fires began and canceled a speech he had planned on delivering in the state, leaving without making the public appearance.

Trump has been highly critical of the response efforts of California authorities and elected leaders and it's not the first time that Trump has clashed with California Governor Gavin Newsom over wildfire preparedness and response. In the aftermath of the 2018 Camp Fire, which caused 85 fatalities and an estimated $16.5 billion in damages, Trump told Newsom outright that he needed to manage forests and water better in the state to prevent that kind of tragedy from reoccurring.

"There's been a lot of study going on over the last little while," Trump said in his 2018 visit, "and I will say I think you're gonna have—hopefully this is going to be the last of these because this was a really, really bad one. And I know that Gavin's committed, we're all committed, I'm committed to make sure that all of this is cleaned out and protected. You gotta take care of the floors. You know, the floors of the forests, very important."

Prior to the November 2024 election, Trump spoke with Joe Rogan about the problem of wildfires in California. This time, it was the water management that he was concerned about. "It's got a natural flow from Canada all the way up north, more water than they could ever use. And in order to protect a tiny little fish, the water up north gets routed into the Pacific Ocean. Millions and millions of gallons of water." Trump said that this has left many California forests "dry as a bone." 

The Los Angeles Fire Department has been attempting to fight fires while arriving to find fire hydrants empty. This has substantially hampered efforts to control the fires, which remain barely contained and still burning. 

"All they have to do is clean their forest, meaning rake it up, get rid of the leaves ... and dead trees that have fallen," Trump told Rogan, blaming environmental policies for leaving forests untouchable.

Newsom admitted on Pod Save America that perhaps it was time to change some of the environmental policies. He made these assertions on Saturday, after the fires had been burning out of control for 5 days. "We’ve got to change some of our environmental rules, which we’ve been proactive about," Newsom said. "That’s again what Donald Trump was speaking to specifically."