China News Service, October 16th. According to the American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) report, on the 15th local time, the US Trump administration rejected a request to declare a state of disaster over the wildfires raging in California. This decision will prevent California from obtaining federal access. assistance.
Since September, the state has been plagued by wildfires, which have destroyed more than one million acres of local land.
On September 28, local time, in Calistoga, California, wildfires continued to rages.
The picture shows the "glass" fire burning along the hillside.
According to reports, California Governor Newsom sent a letter to US President Trump on September 28, requesting the declaration of disaster status for several fires, including the "Creek fire" and "Lynx" fires.
Once in a state of disaster, the Trump administration will release federal funds to provide assistance to the state government.
Newsom said the fire has burned more than 1.8 million acres of land in seven counties and destroyed more than 3,000 buildings, including nearly 1,000 houses.
He said the damage caused by the destruction of the infrastructure is estimated to exceed $229 million.
However, a spokesperson for the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services confirmed on October 15 that the Trump administration rejected their request.
California plans to appeal the decision and believes that California meets the requirements for assistance.
The spokesperson said that at the same time, officials are looking for other ways to obtain assistance from the federal government to support wildfire victims.
It is not clear why the Trump administration rejected California's request. ABC has contacted the Federal Emergency Management Agency for comment.
The report pointed out that in 2019, after Newsom criticized Trump's environmental policies, Trump threatened to cut federal aid to California wildfires, and said Newsom did "very poor forest management."