By FireRescue1 Staff
WASHINGTON — President Trump said he is cutting off FEMA funds for California wildfires.
The president said in a tweet that the wildfires are caused by improper forest management and that the State of California needs to “get their act together.”
“Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for forest fires that, with proper forest management, would never happen,” the tweet read. “Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1083022011574747137
Trump previously sparked backlash from fire officials in November when he criticized California in another tweet and blamed the deadly wildfires on “gross mismanagement.”
“There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor,” he said. “Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more fed payments!”
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1061168803218948096
Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed an executive order that “directs state agencies to consider risk management through an added socioeconomic lens” and “asks agencies to identify geographic areas with populations that are particularly at risk during natural disasters,” according to a press release.
The governor signed another executive order for an Innovation Procurement Sprint that “modernizes the way the state contracts for technology systems,” through which the state will first take on fire detection.
Gov. Newsom also announced a five-year, $1 billion forest management plan and joined Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee to ask President Trump to double the budget for managing federal forestlands in their three states.