Trump to visit California as wildfires ravage western U.S.

Sept. 14 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump was scheduled to make a brief stop in California to discuss the raging West Coast wildfires on Monday.

Trump was scheduled to arrive in Sacramento at 10:40 a.m. PDT to receive a briefing on the fires, which have killed at least 35 people, burned 4.6 million in 10 states, forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents and darkened skies from Vancouver, Canada, to Tijuana, Mexico.

During the two-hour visit, Trump is expected to participate in a ceremony recognizing the California National Guard and to meet privately with Gov. Gavin Newsom, the governor's office announced late Sunday.

The president has remained quiet on the wildfires, but on a visit to Nevada on Saturday he blamed poor forest management for the blazes, which are shaping up to be the worst wildfires in American history.

"Please remember the words, very simple, forest management," he said. "Please remember. It's about forest management."

That stance has drawn criticism from Western state officials who contend Trump is ignoring the role climate change is playing in the conflagrations.

"This is climate change, and this is an administration that's put its head in the sand, while we have Democratic and Republican mayors across the country stepping up to do their part," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said on CNN's State of the Union.

Meanwhile, the death toll in California rose to at least 24 late Sunday, state officials said, when two more victims were confirmed in the 261,000-acre North Complex fire near Chico, Calif.

Butte County, Calif., Sheriff Kory Honea said officials were able to identify only one of the victims -- a 58-year-old man from Berry Creek, Calif. Seven people were still missing in the county, down from 13 reported Saturday, he said.

At least 10 people have died in Oregon as well as a 1-year-old in Washington state.

Efforts to combat the 87 large fires across the West was expected to be hampered Monday by strong, gusty winds in northern California and southeast Oregon, while dense smoke was expected to continue to impact much of the western United States, forecasters said.

In a Monday morning update, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, said progress was made overnight in some of the hardest hit areas, including Butte County, where the North Complex Fire was classified as 26% contained.

"A lot of good work has been completed in the last few days, and we're going to continue to strive to connect all the dots and get this mopped up as soon as possible," said Cal Fire Night Operation Chief Monty Smith. Crews planned to finish more lines in the west zone Monday, hoping to cut off the fire spread.

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