President Trump on Monday praised the thousands of "amazing and very brave" firefighters, emergency workers and first responders battling the California wildfires that have left huge pieces of the state a scorched and blackened wilderness, killed more than 30 and left hundreds missing.
But the president was under attack on social media because he also criticized the forest-management policies and practices that contributed to the disaster.
The AP reported statewide the death toll on Monday from the currently raging fires was 31, with 29 deaths blamed on the Camp Fire that swept through northern California, decimating most of the city of Paradise.
There, a mobile DNA lab and anthropologists were working to identify victims from the blaze, including some incinerated in their vehicles apparently as they tried to flee.
Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown said his state was requesting aid from the Trump administration, and the president's response initially was that the nation need to work toward a solution to such catastrophes.
There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2018
He said there's no reason for such disasters "except that forest management is so poor."
With proper Forest Management, we can stop the devastation constantly going on in California. Get Smart!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 11, 2018
And he acknowledged the hard work of those on the fire lines:
The California Fire Fighters, FEMA and First Responders are amazing and very brave. Thank you and God Bless you all!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 12, 2018
Brown, meanwhile, blamed so-called climate-deniers.
"Managing all the forests everywhere we can does not stop climate change," he wrote. "And those who deny that are definitely contributing to the tragedies that we're now witnessing, and will continue to witness in the coming years."
On Monday, strong winds worsened conditions in which more than 8,000 firefighters were working to save homes. Celebrities Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian West and Martin Sheen reported their homes were lost, as an estimated 150,000 people were under evacuation orders.
A host of celebrities took to Twitter Saturday to slam the president.
Brown's press secretary said the government was working to save lives and property, not focus "on the president's inane and uninformed tweets."
The president's comments were, said the International Association of Fire Fighters, "irresponsible."
Brian Rice, head of the California Professional Firefighters group, said Trump's message was "ill-informed" and demeaning.
"The president's assertion that California's forest management policies are to blame for catastrophic wildlife is dangerously wrong. Wildfires are sparked and spread not only in forested areas but in populated areas and open fields fueld by parched vegetation, high winds, low humidity and geography," the statement said. "Moreover, nearly 60 percent of California forests are under federal management."
Merrill Matthews of the Institute for Policy Innovation and a Ph.D. in Humanities, however, wrote in a commentary that while the media blames "climate change," Trump is right.
"Trump is correct that human-caused policies may be playing a bigger role than human-caused climate change in the increasingly destructive wildfires," he said. "For decades the U.S. Forest Service allowed logging companies to enter forests and clear out dead, stressed and diseased trees and underbrush — all of which are kindling for wildfires."
He pointed out that between 1960 and 1990 about 10 billion to 12 billion board feet of timber was removed annually from national forests. But there's been a steady decline since, before Trump became president, that has left forests "filled with dead and diseased trees."
Even the U.S. Forest Service warned as recently as last December that in California the trees that have died because of drought and bark beetles totaled 129 million on 8.9 million acres.
The federal agency said they are a "hazard."
California Rep. Tom McClintock, the Republican chairman of the Subcommittee on Federal Lands, said last year that the sale of timber formerly provided revenue to the treasury and jobs for local economies. But new laws "have made the management of our forests all but impossible."
The result has been a rapid expansion, not so much in the number but the size of wildfires.
He explained the National Forest Management Act of 1976 is being used by environmental groups to oppose logging, and the Engendered Species Act often ties managers' hands entirely.
"The irony is that California Gov. Jerry Brown is dedicated to reducing carbon emissions — using more renewable energy sources, imposing higher mileage standards on cars and trucks, etc. But the wildfires that have grown so extensive on his watch undermine those efforts," the commentary said.
CNN reported singer and entertainer Katy Perry tweeted: "There aren't even politics involved. Just good American families losing their homes as you tweet, evacuating into shelters."
And the American Mirror quoted California Democrat Rep. Maxine Waters saying she just wishes Trump would "keep his mouth shut."
"The president of the United States attempts to talk about things that he has no knowledge of. He doesn't even understand what goes into fighting a fire, and for him to come out talking about poor management is just another indication that the president is not willing to learn anything," she charged.
Jamey Foshee tweeted that the Pasadena Firefighters concluded the president was wrong.
"The fires in So. Cal are urban interface fires and have NOTHING to do with forest management," the statement said.
Tony Shaffer, however, backed the president.
"He didn't get it wrong – he is correct – the fact that the fire has been [fed] by fuel of dead wood and not properly managing the land. ... You communist idiots really should join the 21st century and study science and step away from the Soviet rhetoric."