California Gov. Gavin Newsom declares state of emergency due to increased wildfire risk

[Logic Over Emotionalism]

California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency Friday as result of "a vast tree die-off throughout the state" and deteriorating forest conditions that have increased the risk of wildfires.

The executive order allows the state to suspend environmental review on some fuel-reduction projects, including tree thinning in forests and other high-risk fire areas. It comes as the state is bracing for perhaps another tough wildfire season after devastating 2017 and 2018 blazes that killed more than 120 people.

The action by the Democratic governor follows President Donald Trump's repeated criticism of California's wildfire prevention efforts, including blaming the state in November for "gross mismanagement of the forests."

California governor declares state of emergency due to increased wildfire risk

 

[Logic Over Emotionalism]

Glad California is starting to take this seriously and take what the president has said multiple times. We need this taken care of to protect both lives and property.

 

[FireDragon76]

Another symptom of global warming. The forests in the west are experiencing pests and drought due to changing climate, and this has been happening for the last couple of years.

 

[Logic Over Emotionalism]

Another symptom of global warming. The forests in the west are experiencing pests and drought due to changing climate, and this has been happening for the last couple of years.

Regardless if you believe it's from global warming or not. The fires are fueled by dead trees and dry brush. From a family of firefighters I can safely say Trump was right California needs to take this more seriously not just expect handouts.

 

[FireDragon76]

Regardless if you believe it's from global warming or not. The fires are fueled by dead trees and dry brush. From a family of firefighters I can safely say Trump was right California needs to take this more seriously not just expect handouts.

But Trump denies the possibility of addressing the real cause of the forest fires in California. Felling more dead trees is only a temporary solution.

 

[Go Braves]

Glad to see a politician who properly understands what constitutes a national emergency.

Donald couldn't bother to learn the name of the devastated town he was in, blundered on that. Lied about the Finnish president telling him they raked the forest to prevent fires. Inspired a bunch of memes of Finns vacuuming the forest. While the state was hurting bad on account of the devastating fires, threatened them with pulling back funding. Also demonstrated profound & serious ignorance about climate change.

 

[Go Braves]

Regardless if you believe it's from global warming or not. The fires are fueled by dead trees and dry brush. From a family of firefighters I can safely say Trump was right California needs to take this more seriously not just expect handouts.

57% of California's 33 million acres of forests are controlled by the federal government. Millions of dead & & dying trees grow on lands that are controlled by the U.S. Forest Service. Which, btw, was impacted by Donald's pointless government shutdown.

Donald Trump needs to take this more seriously & not just toot out nonsense about raking forests.

 

[Oldmantook]

But Trump denies the possibility of addressing the real cause of the forest fires in California. Felling more dead trees is only a temporary solution.

The lie of global warming.

 

[FireDragon76]

57% of California's 33 million acres of forests are controlled by the federal government. Millions of dead & & dying trees grow on lands that are controlled by the U.S. Forest Service. Which, btw, was impacted by Donald's pointless government shutdown.

Donald Trump needs to take this more seriously & not just toot out nonsense about raking forests.

Thanks for putting this in perspective.

 

[Logic Over Emotionalism]

57% of California's 33 million acres of forests are controlled by the federal government. Millions of dead & & dying trees grow on lands that are controlled by the U.S. Forest Service. Which, btw, was impacted by Donald's pointless government shutdown.

Donald Trump needs to take this more seriously & not just toot out nonsense about raking forests.

This is from someone who lives in California and breathed in the terrible smoke last year and also has family who battled the fires. The fires that did the most damage did not start on federal lands and was largely preventable. Trump is right we are poorly mismanaged. California is fueled by dead trees and dry brush that is not managed at all. This is not our first wild fire season yet California does not at all prepare and does not have better management. We have been reacting to the fires not preparing to prevent them. As the president made valid points on. So I am glad that Gov. Newsom is finally listening to these concerns.

The state gets so much funding for this then it's poorly spent and then when accidents happen we don't have the money to solve it except ask for more money. For crying out loud PG&E who started many of the fires last year raised it's rates at the approval of the governor for the last fire and all the lawsuits. Where did the funding for the dam go before it burst? Then the state asked for more money. It's repetitive and disgusting. According to Cal Fire's report and Gov Newsom there are plenty of things they can do to save lives, I am just glad that something is now getting done about this serious problem in California.

 

[FireDragon76]

Even a broken clock is right twice a day, especially when it is always on Twitter.

 

[Go Braves]

This is from someone who lives in California and breathed in the terrible smoke last year and also has family who battled the fires. The fires that did the most damage did not start on federal lands and was largely preventable. Trump is right we are poorly mismanaged. California is fueled by dead trees and dry brush that is not managed at all. This is not our first wild fire season yet California does not at all prepare and does not have better management. We have been reacting to the fires not preparing to prevent them. As the president made valid points on. So I am glad that Gov. Newsom is finally listening to these concerns.

The state gets so much funding for this then it's poorly spent and then when accidents happen we don't have the money to solve it except ask for more money. For crying out loud PG&E who started many of the fires last year raised it's rates at the approval of the governor for the last fire and all the lawsuits. Where did the funding for the dam go before it burst? Then the state asked for more money. It's repetitive and disgusting. According to Cal Fire's report and Gov Newsom there are plenty of things they can do to save lives, I am just glad that something is now getting done about this serious problem in California.

My brother lives in California with his brand-new baby so you're hardly the only one there worried about breathing in terrible smoke. He's always been a Republican but he like many decent folks were entirely disgusted by Donald's callous disrespect & ignorance in regards to the wildfires. That is not how a leader ought to conduct himself. Glad Governor Newsom is showing leadership.

Trump blames California for wildfires, but many of the worst have been on federal land

 

[Logic Over Emotionalism]

My brother lives in California with his brand-new baby so you're hardly the only one there worried about breathing in terrible smoke. He's always been a Republican but he like many decent folks were entirely disgusted by Donald's callous disrespect & ignorance in regards to the wildfires. That is not how a leader ought to conduct himself. Glad Governor Newsom is showing leadership.

Trump blames California for wildfires, but many of the worst have been on federal land

I had 3 little ones at the time of those fires and my wife was pregnant with our 4th. So yes I can speak on this. I am not a republican or a democrat. But fully support his remarks as it was fully justified.

Now the article you shared was not accurate as both the Camp fire and the Ranch fire was not started on federal lands. They eventually spread on to federal lands after the fires were already out of control. Can the federal government help matters, of course they can. But so can the state government as both Cal fire and Newsom are now doing. It's not disrespectful for not wanting to give out handouts to a state that last year did nothing to help the problem before it got out of control as has done in past years. When a state ask for handouts after handouts yet does not work to prevent the problem should be told to clean up it's act.

 

[Go Braves]

I had 3 little ones at the time of those fires and my wife was pregnant with our 4th. So yes I can speak on this. I am not a republican or a democrat. But fully support his remarks as it was fully justified.

Now the article you shared was not accurate as both the Camp fire and the Ranch fire was not started on federal lands. They eventually spread on to federal lands after the fires were already out of control. Can the federal government help matters, of course they can. But so can the state government as both Cal fire and Newsom are now doing. It's not disrespectful for not wanting to give out handouts to a state that last year did nothing to help the problem before it got out of control as has done in past years. When a state ask for handouts after handouts yet does not work to prevent the problem should be told to clean up it's act.

I never said that you couldn't speak on this, just that you were not the only one who could speak on it. Huge difference. You can go right ahead & support whatever comments suits your fancy, just as other folks in California are just as justified in not supporting Donald's comments & being fully disgusted by them. I remember interviews with firefighters during the wildfires. They were repulsed by what Donald said, by the callousness of it, the tackiness of it, the total lack of any compassionate. Just filled with vinegar. Donald could not even be bothered to learn the name of the town he was in, much less the facts. It was shameful conduct.

The article I shared was accurate. What was inaccurate was what you stated about it. As it explained, much of much of the acreage burned during the Camp fire was on federal land. The fire started elsewhere but built up momentum on federal land. Same for the Ranch Fire. The article does not state that it started on federal land, but that "the largest blaze in state history, the 410,200-acre Ranch Fire, this past summer burned on large swaths of land managed by the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management in Mendocino and nearby counties north of San Francisco."

It goes on to say that "In fact, six of California's 16 most destructive wildfires in the past 25 years — in terms of structures destroyed — occurred on federal lands, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection records."

Donald has also spread misinformation about "hand outs" in regards to this.

Busting Trump mythology on wildfires as more rage in California

In the same meeting, he also falsely stated that the federal government was spending “hundreds of billions of dollars” to put out fires in California, and threatened to withdraw federal financing if the state didn’t do more to combat fires.

In reality, the U.S. government has spent a sliver of that – approximately $1.4 billion – over the past two years dealing with wildfires in California. Much of that funding is to fight fires on federal land (45 percent of the state) for which California has no management authority or responsibility for fire suppression.