Trump: No more FEMA funds for California fires

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he ordered the Federal Emergency Management Agency to stop sending funds for California wildfires unless the state changes course. “Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for forest fires that, with proper forest management, would never happen,” Trump tweeted. “Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money.”

In his first full day in office, California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Tuesday co-signed a letter, along with the governors of Oregon and Washington, asking the Trump administration to “double the investment” in forest management. The letter said California has spent more than $100 million to prevent forest fires since 2017, adding that nearly half the work done has been in federally owned forests. Trump has repeatedly criticized California's management of its forests as a major cause of recent wildfires.