US President-elect Donald Trump criticises California’s response to the wildfires following the state governor’s invitation to witness damage firsthand.
“The fires are still raging in L.A. The incompetent pols (politicians) have no idea how to put them out,” Trump said on his Truth Social platform.
“This is one of the worst catastrophes in the history of our country. They just can’t put out the fires. What’s wrong with them?” he wrote.
Democratic governor Gavin Newsom, long a target of Trump’s criticism, pushed back in an interview that aired on Sunday but also offered a conciliatory hand.
“Responding to Donald Trump’s insults, we would spend another month,” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Every elected official that he disagrees with is very familiar with them.”
But in a pivot, the governor added, “I called for him to come out, take a look for himself. We want to do it in the spirit of an open hand, not a closed fist. He’s the president-elect.”
He said he had received no response from Trump to his invitation so far.
But perhaps heedful of Trump’s past threat—in a dispute over water management—that if elected he might cut federal wildfire aid to California, Newsom tempered his own approach.
“In the spirit of this great country, we must not politicise human tragedy or spread disinformation,” he wrote in a letter to Trump shared on social media.
“I invite you to come to California again — to meet with the Americans affected by these fires, see the devastation firsthand, and join me and others in thanking the heroic firefighters and first responders who are putting their lives on the line.”
“That’s his style… we take it seriously,” the governor told NBC of Trump’s threat to cut off funding.
State and local officials in California have faced searing criticism as Trump and other Republicans, as well as those whose homes have burned or been threatened, have demanded answers about the state’s planning and preparedness.
The fires have so far killed at least 16 people, displaced 150,000 more, and destroyed more than 12,000 structures, according to state officials.
“Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place,” Trump said in his post.
Despite firefighters’ efforts, the Palisades Fire has continued to push east toward the densely populated San Fernando Valley and the priceless collections of the Getty Center art museum.
Meanwhile, firefighters battled Sunday to get on top of massive wildfires around Los Angeles as winds ramped up, pushing the blazes toward previously untouched neighbourhoods.
Despite heroic efforts, including precision sorties from aerial crews, the Palisades Fire continued to grow, pushing east towards the priceless collections of the Getty Center art museum and north to the densely populated San Fernando Valley.
In some areas, the fire had turned houses to ashes and left streaks of molten metal flowing from burnt-out cars.
Footage from the Mandeville Canyon area showed one home consumed, with a wall of flame licking up a hillside to menace others.
A brief lull in the wind was rapidly giving way to gusts that forecasters warned would feed the blazes for days to come.
“Critical fire-weather conditions will unfortunately ramp up again today for southern California and last through at least early next week,” the National Weather Service said.
“This may lead to the spread of ongoing fires as well as the development of new ones.”
The Palisades Fire was 11 per cent contained Saturday but had grown to 23,600 acres (9,500 hectares), while the Eaton Fire was at 14,000 acres and 15 percent contained.
Official figures show more than 12,000 structures burnt, but Cal Fire’s Todd Hopkins said not all were homes, and the number would also include outbuildings, recreational vehicles and sheds.
The sudden rush of people needing somewhere new to live in the months ahead looked set to make life hard for already-squeezed renters in the city.
“I’m back on the market with tens of thousands of people,” said a man who gave his name as Brian, whose rent-controlled apartment has burned. “That doesn’t bode well.”
With reports of looting and a nighttime curfew in place, police and National Guard have mounted checkpoints to prevent people getting into the disaster zones.
Two people were arrested near Vice President Kamala Harris’s Brentwood house for violating the curfew order after police recieved reports of burglary, local media reported citing police.
A handwritten sign with “looters will be shot” was hung on a tree, next to the US flag outside a house in Pacific Palisades.
But the security checkpoints have left residents frustrated as they queue for up to 10 hours to try to get back in and see what, if anything, is left of their homes or check on family.
Prevented from entering an evacuation zone, Altadena resident Bobby Salman, 42, said: “I have to be there to protect my family, my wife, my kids, my mom and I cannot even go and see them.”
The long queues left some people fuming about poor management, the latest gripe from a population already angry over hydrants that ran dry in the initial firefight.
City officials put on a united front Saturday after reports of a behind-the-scenes row and suggestions that Mayor Karen Bass had sacked her fire chief.
An at-times tense joint press conference came after Chief Kristin Crowley complained her fire department was short of cash.
“It is with great sadness that I have to announce the death of my beautiful son @Rorysykes to the Malibu fires yesterday. I’m totally heart broken,” his mother Shelley Sykes wrote on social media.
Teams with cadaver dogs were combing through the rubble, with several people known to be missing and fears that the death toll will grow.
A huge investigation has been underway to determine what caused the blazes, involving the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), along with local authorities, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said.
“We are not going to leave any rock unturned,” he said.
While the ignition of a wildfire can be deliberate, they are often natural, and a vital part of an environment’s life cycle.
But urban sprawl puts people more frequently in harm’s way, and the changing climate — supercharged by humanity’s unchecked use of fossil fuels — is exacerbating the conditions that give rise to destructive blazes.
