When it began, the Camp Fire in Northern California was growing at a rate of 80 football fields every minute.
It has now killed at least 48 people, scorched 130,000 acres of land, and torched thousands of houses and commercial buildings.
And that isn’t the only fire raging across the now chronically parched Golden State.
Near Los Angeles the Woolsey Fire, which ignited last Thursday and doubled in size overnight, has torched 100,000 acres and killed at least two people.
More than 200,000 people have been evacuated because of those two fires alone.
The Hill Fire in Ventura County burned 4,500 acres.
At the time of this writing, there were at least 15 uncontained wildfires burning across the state.
While science has shown for years now that human-caused climate change is causing wildfires to become more frequent, larger and hotter, the president of the United States still managed to prioritize climate denial over providing comfort and support to those who need it most during the crisis in California.
“This Is the New Abnormal.”
While families were literally running for their lives from wildfires that were burning people alive, particularly elderly people who were unable to flee, President Donald Trump threatened to cut off federal disaster funding to California.
On November 10, Trump tweeted: “There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!”
In response, Brian Rice, president of the California Professional Firefighters, issued a statement saying, in part:
The president’s message attacking California and threatening to withhold aid to the victims of the cataclysmic fires is Ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the…