Biden Cancels Trip to Italy to Focus on LA Wildfires
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden has cancelled his planned trip to Rome to remain focused on directing the federal response to the catastrophic wildfires that have engulfed Los Angeles in recent days.
Biden happened to be on the West Coast this week to establish the Chuckwalla and Sáttítla national monuments and bolster protections on their acreage against mining, drilling and other extraction activities.
While there, he met with police, fire and other personnel fighting the historic blazes and approved a major disaster declaration for the state of California.
As of Thursday morning more than 100,000 residents have evacuated and at least five people have died as epic wildfires continue to spread across the Los Angeles metro area.
Officials with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said so far, more than 45 square miles have burned, and there are now at least five separate wildfires burning simultaneously, their ferocity fueled by the Santa Ana winds.
On Wednesday, Biden said “We’re prepared to do anything and everything as long as it takes to contain these fires and to help with the reconstruction and make sure we get back to normal.”
“It’s going to be a hell of a long way,” he said. “It’s going to take time.”
“But we’re in it,” he added. “The federal government is here to stay as long as you need us and we’ll provide everything you need.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom said the support of the White House in this time of disaster “means the world to us.”
Though the state has pre-positioned firefighting assets ahead of the explosion of wildfires, the complexity of the situation, exacerbated by the winds, has been a challenge.
The Santa Ana winds are strong, extremely dry winds that originate inland and bring low relative humidity levels to much of Southern California, dramatically increasing the wildfire threat.
Though they typically last for only three or fours days, they can blow for much longer.
In this case, Newsom said the forecast calls for the current winds to continue for “the next many days.”
In the meantime, he said, “over a thousand structures have already been destroyed.”
With that, Newsom said, “Lives have been lost and traditions, lifestyles and places have been torn asunder.”
Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue
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