President Trump has dismissed concerns over climate change on a visit to fire-ravaged California, telling an official there it would “start getting cooler”.
Blazes in California, Oregon and Washington state have burned almost 2m hectares (5m acres) of land and killed at least 35 people since early August.
Climate change sceptic Mr Trump blames the crisis on poor forest management.
Earlier on Monday, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden called Mr Trump “a climate arsonist”.
He told an event in Delaware that four more years of his opponent in the White House would see “more of America ablaze”.
During his visit to the US West Coast, Mr Trump repeated his argument that poor forest management was to blame as he met Californian officials involved in the battle against the wildfires at a stop near Sacramento, in the centre of the state.
Dismissing one official’s plea to not “ignore the science” on climate change, Mr Trump said: “It’ll start getting cooler, you just watch… I don’t think science knows actually.”
Climate change takes political centre stage
At least for one day, climate change is front-and-centre in the US presidential campaign. While touring fire-ravaged California, Donald Trump downplayed the role a warming planet could have in the devastation, suggesting temperatures will “start getting cooler” and that the recent conflagrations were an issue of proper forest management.
Meanwhile, Joe Biden went on the attack, calling the president a “climate arsonist” who ignores a “central crisis” facing the nation.
Although the environment has typically been a sideline issue, getting scant attention even during the Democratic primaries, the topic is one on which Trump and Biden are sharply divided. The Trump administration has rolled back more than 70 environmental regulations, many of which deal with climate change, while also withdrawing the US from the Paris Climate Agreement. Biden, on the other hand, has moved to the left on the environment in recent months, expanding on his original plan for spending $1.7tn infrastructure and green jobs over 10 years to $2tn over four years.
Despite Monday’s attention, the environment still ranks behind issues like healthcare and the economy for most Americans. It is, however, an important topic for younger voters – a group that Biden, in particular, is eager to get to the polls in November.
What else did Trump say about the climate?
When asked by a reporter in California whether climate change was a factor in the massive wildfires, Mr Trump responded: “I think this is more of a management situation.”
He claimed that other countries had not dealt with the same level of forest fires, despite major conflagrations in Australia and the Amazon rainforest in recent years that experts attributed to the changing climate.
“They don’t have problems like this,” he said. “They have very explosive trees, but they don’t have problems like this.”
He added: “When you get into climate change, well is India going to change its ways? And is China going to change its ways? And Russia? Is Russia going to change its ways?”
What’s the latest on the ground?
Authorities in California, where 24 people have died since 15 August, report that firefighters are working to contain 29 major wildfires across the state.
They warned that the strong southerly winds and low humidity forecast for Monday could bring an elevated fire risk, and potentially have an impact on the North Complex Fire, which has scorched 106,000 hectares and is only 26% contained.
The US National Weather Service also issued a “red flag warning” for other areas of the West Coast, including Jackson County, Oregon, where the Almeda Fire has destroyed hundreds of homes.
The Oregon Office of Emergency Management said on Sunday that firefighters in the state were struggling to contain more than 30 active wildfires – the largest of which was more than 89km (55 miles) wide.
At least 10 people have been killed in Oregon in the past week. Officials have said dozens of people are missing and warned that the death toll could rise.
One person has died in Washington, where there were five large fires on Sunday.
Source: bbc.com
