Donald Trump has revealed why he has not visited Los Angeles as one of the worst wildfires in US history continues to rage through parts of the California city.
The new president has said he will “probably” visit LA, adding that he hasn’t done so yet because he “thought it would be better if I went as president.”
Several ongoing fires that broke out on January 7 have killed at least 27 people and destroyed more than 14,600 structures in densely populated areas, including Altadena in north LA and the upscale Pacific Palisades enclave near Malibu.
Residents have attacked the city’s mayor, Karen Bass, for being away in Ghana when the fires broke out, despite ample warnings from meteorologists that the upcoming weather forecast was a recipe for disaster.
President Joe Biden, 82, was visiting LA on January 8 as the fires increased. Local law enforcement officials and firefighters briefed him on the massacre and plans to contain the infernos as hundreds of thousands of people were evacuated.
Trump, 78, has yet to visit the scene, but he spoke to NBC News‘ Meets with the press by telephone about his plans to investigate the massacre in the coming days.
Asked if he would visit Los Angeles, Trump said: “I will probably come at the end of this week.
“Actually, I wanted to go yesterday,” he added. ‘But I thought it would be better if I became president. It’s a little more appropriate, I guess.’
Donald Trump has revealed why he didn’t visit Los Angeles after one of the worst wildfires in US history tore through the California city
The new president has said he will “probably” visit LA, adding that he hasn’t done so yet because he “thought it would be better if I went as president.” (Image: A firefighting helicopter drops water on the Pacific Palisades as infernos engulf the area)
The carnage is far from over. LA residents are preparing for even more fire chaos this week as weather forecasters have warned that Santa Ana wind gusts of up to 100 miles per hour will return.
“We expect another major event as Santa Ana winds pick up this weekend, creating critical fire danger,” a California Met Office spokesperson said.
‘Some areas may experience wind gusts of 130 km/h and higher, possibly up to 160 km/h. We are in extreme fire danger. Winds are expected to start tonight (Sunday) and peak on Wednesday.”
There is no chance of much-needed rainfall in the area, where hundreds of people have lost their homes, including celebrities such as Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson and Billy Crystal.
In total, the wildfires have consumed more than 40,500 acres in L.A.’s most affluent neighborhoods, wiping out celebrity homes and A-list restaurant hotspots among 14,602 buildings.
Local fire departments have warned that higher winds and more fire would keep those under mandatory evacuation orders from returning home to assess damage.
The Palisades Fire, which has burned more than 23,700 acres to date, continues to burn and only 52 percent of the inferno will be contained by midday Sunday, according to the California Fire Department.
In Altadena, the Eaton Fire has burned more than 40,000 acres and was 81 percent contained as of Sunday afternoon.
Two people have also been arrested for allegedly setting fires in the county, including Ruben Montes, 29, who was arrested Sunday for arson in Irwindale, about 16 miles from Altadena, where the deadly Eaton Fire continues to rage.
Mexican national Juan Manuel Sierra-Leyva was also taken into custody after he was reportedly caught on video walking with a yellow blowtorch before being confronted by residents of Calabasas, west of Beverly Hills.
They spread so quickly that staff at a senior living center had to push dozens of residents in wheelchairs and hospital beds down the street to a parking lot in apocalyptic scenes.
Pictured: Fire engulfs a home as the Eaton Fire moves through Altadena, CA on Wednesday
Disruptions to Los Angeles’ power grid increased alarmingly in the same areas where major wildfires were raging, prompting theories that the outages could also have catalyzed the crisis.
Bob Marshall, the CEO of Whisker Labs, a company that monitors electrical activity, told Fox News that the company saw spikes in outages in the hours before the Eaton, Palisades and Hurst fires.
Marshall said records show that power was not immediately turned off after the faults increased, and that they may have been caused by “tree branches hitting wires or wires blowing in the wind and touching each other.”
“That creates a spark for an error, and we detect all these things,” Marshall said. Faulty electrical equipment, a sudden increase in electrical demand or earthquakes are also possible causes of the surges.
In the hardest-hit Pacific Palisades area, there were 63 faults in the two to three hours before the fire broke out, and 18 in the hour before the fire started Tuesday.
The Eaton Fire, near Altadena, saw 317 power outages in the hours before ignition, Marshall said, and the Hurst Fire saw about 230 outages. On a normal day, he said the company records very few.
Although investigators have yet to determine the cause of the fires, the faults in the power grid raise the possibility that sparks from the faults will ignite parched vegetation, with high winds carrying the embers across the region.