A week after the wildfires broke out in California, fires were still burning in the areas north and south of San Francisco and areas surrounding Los Angeles on Saturday.
Cal Fire officials said the Camp Fire in the north of the state was 55 percent contained as of Saturday after it had burned through 148,000 acres (600 square kilometers).
The wildfire has killed at least 76 people in the area while 9,700 houses and 144 apartment buildings have been destroyed. Some people are staying with friends and family, others have set up tents or are living in their vehicles. Others are being housed in 14 emergency shelters. About 47,000 people have been told they can not yet return to their homes.
About 5,596 personnel are fighting the fire and searching for the dead.
Officials hope to have the Camp Fire contained within the next two weeks.
A destroyed trailer park in the town of Paradise
Some rain was expected in the Butte County area on Tuesday which could help put out the fire, but there were fears there could be floods or landslides in areas where the trees and vegetation have been razed.
In southern California, fires around Los Angeles had consumed more than 100,000 acres with at least four lives lost. The main wildfire in the south, Woolsey Fire, has been linked to four deaths and the destruction of at least 500 buildings near the Malibu coast west of Los Angeles.
Some 1,276 people are still missing in the state.
The air quality became the worst in the world at one point following the fires
Trump had caused resentment last week when he wrote ""There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests."
He claimed Finland did not have California's wildfire problems because "they spent a lot of time on raking."
A burned out house by the ocean in Malibu
Trump visited the areas devastated by the exceptional fires and toxic air to grasp the scale of the desolation wrought on the landscape. He met with Governor Jerry Brown and Governor-elect Gavin Newsom: "We will be talking about forest management. I've been saying that for a long time. And it could have been a lot different situation," Trump said.
"The men and women that are fighting this fire are incredible." Trump said in Chico, California.
Asked if the fires had changed his opinion of climate change, Trump replied "No. No. I have a strong opinion. I want a great climate and we're going to have that and we're going to have forests that are very safe."
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