Joe Biden to discuss devastating West Coast wildfires Monday from Delaware

WILMINGTON, Del. -- Former Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver a speech on climate change exacerbating the wildfires raging in California and other West Coast states Monday.

California, Oregon and Washington state have seen historic wildfires that have burned faster and farther than ever before. Numerous studies in recent years have linked bigger wildfires in the U.S. to global warming from the burning of coal, oil and gas.

The Democratic governors of those states say the fires are a consequence of climate change, while the Trump administration has blamed poor forest management for the flames that have raced through the region and made the air in places like Portland, Oregon, Seattle and San Francisco some of the worst in the world.

Scientists say the wildfires are all but inevitable, but that the main drivers are plants and trees drying out due to climate change and more people living closer to areas that burn. Forest thinning and controlled burns have proven challenging to implement on the scale needed to combat those threats.

Biden's remarks about climate change Monday will be delivered from Wilmington, Delaware. They come after the Democratic presidential nominee and his wife, Jill, voted in Delaware's primary, casting a ballot by appointment a day before the polls formally open. Monday evening, the former vice president will address via internet the Poor People's Campaign virtual event "Voting is Power Unleashed."

President Donald Trump is set to visit California Monday. He's headed to McClellan Park, a former air base just outside Sacramento, White House spokesman Judd Deere said. California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said he would be meeting with Trump.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.