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During a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Wednesday, President Trump expressed his concerns on the California wildfires and how much they are costing the government.
“California’s a mess. We’re giving billions and billions of dollars for forest fires in California,” Trump said during the meeting.
“They are leaving them dirty,” Trump said of the forests. “Old trees are sitting there, rotting and drying. And instead of cleaning it up, they don’t touch them, they leave them. And we end up with these massive fires that we’re paying hundreds of billions of dollars for to fix, and the destruction is incredible.”
In the last fiscal year, California's state wildfire agency spent $773 million just to fight fires. That's three-times the amount of money spent five years ago.
“It’s costing our country hundreds of billions of dollars because of incompetence in California,” Trump added. “It’s hurting our budget, it’s hurting our country. And they just better get their act together.”
But this isn't the first time President Trump has spoken on the issue in California. Back in August, Trump tweeted about the dire need to clear the state's brush and old trees:
"California wildfires are being magnified & made so much worse by the bad environmental laws which aren’t allowing massive amount of readily available water to be properly utilized. It is being diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Must also tree clear to stop fire spreading!"
Read the full report on The Hill.