Trump dismisses climate concerns over US fires

On Monday, US President Donald Trump dismissed the role of climate change in the deadly wildfires that have devastated the western states of California, Oregon and Washington.

Speaking at a briefing in California, Trump rejected arguments by state officials who said that a heating climate was behind the ever-stronger fires.

"It will start getting cooler. You just watch," Trump said.

Trump has blamed poor forest management for the fires. He has also accused local elected officials of neglecting to clear land appropriately.

Wade Crowfoot, the head of the California Natural Resources Agency, urged Trump to recognize climate change and not just forest management as the cause for the wildfires and stressed the need to "work together with that science."

"I wish science agreed with you," Crowfoot said, to which Trump replied: "I don't think science knows, actually."

California Governor Gavin Newsom — who has argued that global warming is the key driver behind the fires — acknowledged the need for better forest management but added that the cause was far bigger.

"The hots are getting hotter, the dries are getting drier," he said. "We submit the science is in and observed evidence is self-evident: that climate change is real and that is exacerbating this," Newsom said. 

The blazes that continue to ravage swathes of land across California, Oregon and Washington, have killed at least 35 people since the beginning of summer and have forced thousands to evacuate their homes.

Nearly 5 million acres of land is said to be burned.

Trump a 'climate arsonist', says Biden

A few minutes before the briefing , Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden launched a scathing attack at Trump, calling him a "climate arsonist."

"We need a president who respects science, who understands that the damage from climate change is already here, and, unless we take urgent action, it will soon be more catastrophic," Biden said from his home state of Delaware. 

He also pledged to rejoin the Paris climate accord if he emerges victorious in the November election. The former vice president said he would focus on moving the country to sustainable sources of energy.

Read more: Trump and Biden: Little room for climate change in US election

dvv/dr (AFP, dpa)