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California’s ongoing debate with the Trump administration over who or what is to blame for this year’s devastating wildfires careened into a high-stakes battle over a tense 36-hour period, as federal officials denied the state’s latest request for disaster assistance before finally relenting Friday.
But it took a phone call from Gov. Gavin Newsom to President Donald Trump to help settle a situation that threatened to saddle a state already facing a huge budget deficit with hundreds of millions in additional costs for a fire season that has already consumed more than twice the acreage of any previous year.
“Just got off the phone with President Trump who has approved our Major Disaster Declaration request. Grateful for his quick response,” Newsom stated in a tweet and news release early Friday afternoon. Unlike many of his fellow governors, Newsom has scrupulously sought to avoid criticizing Trump personally, although he has slipped a few times.
Just got off phone with @realDonaldTrump who has approved our Major Disaster Declaration request.
Grateful for his quick response. https://t.co/rF7VFqSENl
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) October 16, 2020
As if to punctuate the issues behind the standoff, a five-alarm grass fire ignited on one of the most distinctive hillsides in the Bay Area on Friday, producing smoke and flames on Sign Hill alongside the signature “South San Francisco The Industrial City” lettering introducing motorists and airplanes to the Peninsula berg.
Nearby residents were ordered to evacuate as firefighters sprayed water from the balconies of their hillside homes and a Cal Fire airplane dropped red flame retardant from the sky. But within an hour of the fire’s eruption just before noon Friday, firefighters made rapid headway in containing the blaze and keeping it from seriously threatening homes.
Two boys — ages 14 and 16 — were reportedly seen leaving the area where the fire started, the South San Francisco Police Department said in a news release late Friday. Police said the boys were questioned by detectives and they admitted to starting the fire. The boys were released to their parents pending the completion of the investigation.
The fire came amid scorching temperatures and heightened wildfire precautions during the region’s latest heat wave. But as a cooling trend took hold, the fire danger eased Friday, and electricity began to be restored to area residents who lost power earlier due to concerns that high winds might knock over energized lines, touching off new blazes.
Newsom largely has blamed the weather for the fire season and has announced sweeping new measures to combat global warming over the last two months, including phasing out new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035.
Trump, in contrast, has repeatedly faulted the state for poor forest management, while ignoring the fact that the majority of California’s forests are owned by the federal government. Beginning last year, he began to threaten a cutoff of federal wildfire aid if the state did not conduct wildfire policy to his liking.
Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 9, 2019
That recent history loomed large when the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied Newsom’s most recent request for disaster aid, in a letter dated Wednesday. The agency opined that the set of September fires Newsom was citing — the Creek Fire, which has burned about 344,000 acres to date; the Bobcat Fire northeast of Los Angeles; the notorious gender-reveal-party-ignited El Dorado Fire in San Bernardino County; and fires in Mendocino, Siskiyou and San Diego counties — were “not of such severity and magnitude as to be beyond the capabilities of the state, affected local governments, and voluntary agencies.”
There wasn’t any additional rationale given for the decision. While state Democrats immediately blamed Trump, it was hard to square the theory with the federal government’s simultaneous move to increase federal resources to help the recovery from the Lightning Complex Fires — CZU, SCU and LNU — that enveloped huge swaths of the North Bay and Santa Cruz County in August. Trump had earlier granted federal disaster status for those fires, and Tuesday FEMA announced it had upped its coverage for debris removal and emergency protective measures from 75% to 100%.
Newsom may not deserve all of the credit for the eventual turnabout on the latest fires. About two hours before Newsom announced he had spoken with the president, Republican Rep. Tom McClintock, whose congressional district encompasses most of the Creek Fire, credited House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy — whose district sits between that fire and the Bobcat Fire — as he tweeted Trump’s plans to reverse FEMA’s denial.
But whoever persuaded the president, the benefits to California are substantial.
In his Sept. 28 letter requesting the federal declaration, Newsom estimated that the September fires caused nearly $350 million in damage eligible for FEMA relief funds, including damage to roads, bridges, parks and park facilities, downed trees and power stations. The letter also estimated $250 million in damage to homes for this group of fires.
“This all comes during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and relentless successive disasters to strike California, making the impact even more significant,” the letter concludes.
Back in the Bay Area, residents were still grappling with PG&E’s public-safety power shutoffs that were scheduled to end Friday evening, though the utility said it was able to decrease the footprint of affected residents that started seeing service disruptions Wednesday.
Most of the red-flag fire warnings — spurred by forecasts of heavy gusts, low humidity and high heat — were expected to taper off Friday night, but residents in the North Bay mountains and East Bay hills are on alert at least through Saturday morning.
Duane Dykema, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s San Francisco Bay Area station, said noticeable cooling will start Sunday. Forecasters are predicting another burst of warmth, but given what just went through the region, it will have to pass for relief.
“Based on what we’re seeing in our longer-range models, it will warm up again in the middle of the week,” Dykema said. “But it won’t be a major heat wave.”
