Donald Trump is on Monday on a whirlwind visit to California, one of the West Coast states ravaged by deadly fires, where he is expected to hold a speech opposite to that of his Democratic rivals Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who seek to mobilize on the need to fight climate change.
The dozens of blazes that have devastated the coast for days have already killed at least 35 people since the start of the summer, including 27 this week alone in the three states of Washington, Oregon and California.
The American president, in full campaign for his re-election, will arrive in the middle of the morning in Sacramento, the capital of California, where he will be informed of the situation on the spot, before participating in a ceremony in honor of the National Guard of the ‘State.
But there will only remain a few hours, before leaving for a stopover in Arizona, one of the key states which could change the November 3 ballot.
Kamala Harris, running mate of her Democratic rival for the presidency, will also travel to California on Monday evening to assess the damage and meet with emergency service officials the next day. Senator of this state, she accuses Donald Trump of “denying the evidence” that the flames are “fueled and intensified by the climate crisis”.
The Republican official points to an alleged mismanagement of forests in these states, controlled by his Democratic opponents.
“It is forest management that is in question,” he said at a campaign meeting in Nevada on Saturday evening, without ever mentioning climate change. “Remember those words, forest management”.
– “Undeniable facts” –
Former Vice President Joe Biden will also speak on Monday on “the threat posed by extreme weather events to Americans” and “the urgent need to combat the climate crisis”, but from his home in Delaware .
He had attacked his opponent head-on on Saturday: “President Trump may seek to deny reality, but the facts are undeniable,” he said.
According to scientific consensus, the scale of these fires is well linked to climate change, which exacerbates chronic drought and causes extreme weather conditions.
In California, the toll of the week rose to 16 victims, including 14 in Butte County alone, still traumatized by the memory of the fires of November 2018 that had reduced the town of Paradise to ashes.
Seven people were still missing, the local sheriff’s office said at a press conference on Sunday evening.
Eight people had already been killed in the fires in August in the state.
– Awareness –
The acrid fumes given off by the flames affect huge areas. The cities of Portland, Seattle and San Francisco were among the most polluted in the world on Monday, according to the IQAir company ranking.
Ten deaths have been recorded in Oregon.
In Mehama, east of the state capital, Salem, police checkpoints limited access to the towns of Mill City and Lyons, evacuated in the face of the advancing Beachie Creek fire. Long lines of cars waited in the thick fog, many farmers wanting to return to feed their animals.
“We returned to Mill City this morning, but the police had advised us not to do so because it is dangerous,” Elaina Early, a resident of this small town crossed by flames, told AFP. “The house is standing, but we are leaving now because the conditions are really not good.”
More than 400,000 acres have gone to ash in Oregon, double what normally burns there each year, Governor Kate Brown said on CBS Sunday. About 500,000 residents are subject to a higher or lower level of evacuation order, and 40,000 people have effectively left their homes.
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