President-elect Trump slammed officials in charge of handling the raging wildfires in the Los Angeles area, calling them “incompetent.”
“The fires are still raging in L.A.,” Trump wrote on Truth Social early Sunday morning. “The incompetent pols have no idea how to put them out. Thousands of magnificent houses are gone, and many more will soon be lost. There is death all over the place.”
He added that the fires are “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 continued.
Trump’s statements are only the latest against officials’ handling of the disaster, placing a large part of the blame for the failure to contain the fires on California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and President Biden.
“Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California,” the president-elect wrote on Truth Social last week.
“NO WATER IN THE FIRE HYDRANTS, NO MONEY IN FEMA. THIS IS WHAT JOE BIDEN IS LEAVING ME. THANKS JOE!” Trump said in a post later that day.
The fires, which have killed 16 people as of Sunday, have prompted more evacuations, with LA County declaring a local health emergency. Over 40,000 acres have burned, according to Cal Fire.
Various factors have contributed to the intensifying fires, including strong Santa Ana winds, a dry winter, low humidity and packed vegetation.
