'Frustrating': LA fire official slams GOP lawmaker’s response to crisis

12 January

As Los Angeles firefighters continue to do what they can to fight the raging brush fires across the city, President-elect Donald Trump is questioning their competence — while one Republican congressman is threatening to withhold aid until the problem is solved.

California Fire Foundation Chair Brian Rice on Sunday shut down both the president-elect's and Rep. Warren Davidson's (R-OH) assessments of the ongoing crisis.

Pointing to Trump's recent social media post — in which he asked, "Why can't they just put out the fires?" — MSNBC's The Weekend co-host Symone Sanders Townsend asked Rice to explain how his crew is "providing resources not just to communities, but to the firefighters who are fighting these fires themselves."

She added, "This is not like a fire breaking out on your stove in the kitchen."

Rice replied, "That's exactly right. It is a firefight. It is a fight against nature. And until somebody can have control over the wind, we're at the mercy of the weather right now."

The California Fire Foundation leader emphasized that he tries to ignore social media posts like Trump's, as they can become "frustrating" to read.

Rice then noted that he saw a print media news article recently quoted "a congressman from Ohio who probably has little to no experience with a wildfire, and certainly not a California wildfire," suggesting "that the federal government should stop aid until we control the fire problem."

He added, "People need to understand fire has been a part of the nature of California in this country since since the beginning of time, when you add people, there's 40 million people in California, changes the fuel load. You can't manage every acre of forest land. And this is not a forest fire. This is a brush fire that transitions at the higher levels to more forested areas at the lower level, to urban areas and urban conflagration areas. When the wind is blowing and the fire gets ahead of steam, you are not going to stop it. California firefighters are the best in the world at fighting this type of a fire. And right now, everything is settled down."

"Everybody is focused on two things," Rice continued. "The most important — getting our community out of harm's way, and taking care of, and putting this damn fire out. And until the weather changes for us, people can stay and talk and do all they want, but we're at the mercy of the weather right now."

Watch the video below or at this link.

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