Donald Trump appears to be speechless as he finally walks through the charred wreckage left behind by the Northern California wildfires that have decimated and scorched the town of Paradise and left 74 in the state dead.
The president landed at the Beale Air Force base in Northern California hours after he blamed the deadly wildfires on poor forest management yet again, re-igniting fury among West Coast residents and firefighters.
But he was quiet as he walked side by side with Paradise Mayor Jody Jones and surveyed the devastation of the once lively-town in person.
After landing in Yuba County, near the Camp Fire aftermath, around 1pm Eastern time (10am Pacific time), Trump was given a 30-minute helicopter tour of the area flying through the thick haze of smoke then headed out on foot to see rescue crews and the incinerated remains of the town.
The president later held a press conference in Chico, California where he deemed the wildfires 'total devastation'. When reporters pressed him twice about climate change's role in the fatal fires, he said 'we're looking at a lot of factors', then he turned to forest management and deforestation saying having money in the farm bill will help address those concerns.
When asked if his opinions on climate change - which he's notoriously claimed is a myth created by China - he said they haven't. He added that officials are working together on creating preventative measures to avoid another blaze like this from wreaking havoc in the future.
With his arms crossed the president looked serious as Mayor Jones explained the extent of the horrific fires that razed through over 140,000 acres of land, killed 74 people in the state, and left more than 1,000 people missing
An American flag is pictured hanging on a burnt remains of a devastated neighborhood impacted by the deadly Camp Fire
The Mayor, Gov. Jerry Brown (second right) and Gov. elect Gavin Newson (left) gave Trump the lowdown on the damage
Taking it all in: The president was given a tour of what's left of the ashen town of Paradise, escorted by Major Jones and California Gov. Jerry Brown (second from right) and Gov. elect Gavin Newsom (left)
Trump watched his step as he walked through the charred trees and debris of singed houses. Speaking from the area that was once the Skyway Villa Mobile Home and RV Park he said: 'Nobody would have ever thought this could have happened'
Trump raised his first as a sign of solidarity with California after he witnessed the devastating damage of the wildfires
FEMA Administrator Brock Long pointed to a map showing Trump the details of their rescue operations
An officer shows Trump a progression map of the fires after Trump spoke at a press conference and skirted the issue of climate change saying he's considering 'a lot of factors'
Trump gets close to see California wildfire devastation
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Trump also shared a brief message while standing in the wreckage of the charred Skyway Villa Mobile Home and RV Park in Paradise, saying 'Nobody would have ever thought this could have happened. The federal government is behind you. We're all behind each other.'
'This is very sad to see. As far as the lives are concerned, nobody knows quite yet. We're up to a certain number but we have a lot of people who aren't accounted for. This isn't even as bad as some areas, some areas are even beyond this - they're just charred,' he added.
The president started off his morning by speaking to the press from the White House South Lawn before taking off for California where he plans to make two stops and will speak with first responders, FEMA representatives, California governor Jerry Brown and governor elect Gavin Newsom.
'It seems many more people are missing than anyone thought even possible. And I want to be with the firefighters and the FEMA and first responders,' Trump said prior to takeoff.
'We have a lot of things to talk about. We will be talking about forest management. I've been saying that for a long time. This could have been a lot different situation... Very expensive issue but very inexpensive when you compare it to even one of these horrible fires and will save lots of lives in addition to a lot of money,' he said.
However, he commended the team of more than 9,000 'unbelievably brave' firefighters on the scene.
Trump has been heavily criticized for blaming the fires on the 'gross mismanagement' of forests before sharing condolences for wildfire victims. He even threatened to cut off unspecified federal aid to California if they don't take action.
His financial threat sparked outrage and he subsequently approved a federal disaster declaration to send aid to the smoldering state.
His controversial comments have won him the support of national logging organizations as well as heat from environmentalists who say the president's attack is a back-handed effort to help logging companies clear-cut forests.
Officials announced that the death toll in California has reached 74 and the number of people missing has mounted from 631 on Thursday night to 1,011 on Friday, making the fire one of the most lethal blazes in the U.S.
Trump will only be in California for a day but may have an unwelcome reception in the charred state.
President Donald Trump landed at the Beale Air Force base in Yuba County, California at 1pm EST (10am PST), near the 140,000 acres of land charred in the aftermath of the Camp Fire
He deplaned at the California Air Force Base and shook hands with California Gov. Jerry Brown (center) and Gov. elect Gavin Newsom (left) waiting to greet him. The itinerary for his trip is not clear but he intends to meet with the state's governor and with first responders
Children wearing breathing masks and holding onto an American flag stood on the side of the road as Trump's motorcade drove through Chico
Prior to taking off he spoke with reporters from White House South Lawn to detail his trip to the West Coast
Trump said his journey will be a quick one and he'll likely return to the White House around 4am Eastern time. During his quick trip he'll be meeting with FEMA representatives and firefighters
Remains of at least 71 people have been recovered so far in and around the Sierra foothills hamlet of Paradise that was ravaged by the deadly Camp Fire and an additional three deceased victims were found in the Woolsey Fire. The aftermath in Paradise is seen above
Search and rescue teams say they are focused on finding victims both dead and alive and scoured the blackened ruins of Paradise for signs of survivors on Friday. Yuba and Butte County sheriff deputies pictured carrying a body bag with a deceased victim
A total of 74 one people have died so far in the fires and 13 of those victims have not been identified. Trump tweeted on Friday that some bodies were 'burned beyond recognition'
Trump heads to wildfire ravaged California to assess damage
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Some firefighters tirelessly tackling the flames on 24-hour shifts say that Trump's visit is a sign of support for first responders, 'no matter what you think about him', according to firefighter Joshua Watson.
But Michael Baldwin, a CalFire captain from Mendocino County, said Trump's forest management comments are 'ill-informed' and came at the wrong time.
A car with the words 'Paradise Strong' painted on the window drives through a Walmart parking lot where Camp Fire evacuees have been staying
'If you insult people, then you go visit them, how do you think you're going to be accepted? You're not going to have a parade,' Maggie Crowder, of Magalia, said outside of a makeshift tent camp in a Walmart parking lot in Chico.
'I would tell him that this fire has nothing to do with forest mismanagement. Thousands and thousands of homes got destroyed with no trees around,' local woman Roslyn Roberts said to Reuters.
Some think that seeing the crisis up-close and personal is just what the president needs for a wake-up call.
'I think by maybe seeing it he's going to be like "Oh my goodness" and it might start opening people's eyes,' Stacy Lazzarino, who voted for Trump, said.
'I think that the biggest message and the biggest takeover will be the president saying, "We’re here," and thankfully the president's got big shoulders, and I think he’s going to go there to offer them up to people that need somebody to lean on,' White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Friday.
When the president lands he'll see the recovery teams dressed in white protective gear and cadaver dogs searching for more victims in the flame-ravaged town of Paradise.
Several human remains were taken away from charred wreckage sites in body bags during Friday's search.
The missing people list were posted on to Butte County Sheriff's Office website Friday evening and people who find their names on the list are urged to call the sheriff's office.
Walmart converts parking lot into a campsite for fire evacuees
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Sheriff deputies pictured above carrying a body bag of human remains away from a home left in ruin following the Camp Fire
Harrowing images from Paradise on Friday show the heartbreaking search and rescue efforts where county deputies carried off deceased victims in body bags as the number of missing people mounted to over 1,000
Firefighters carry away a body bag with human remains they discovered at a mobile home park that was ravaged in the Camp Fire in Paradise
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea it's 'certainly within the realm of possibility that we will never know' the exact number of people killed in the blaze
But Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the list is imperfect and will fluctuate in number because it is raw data that needs to be refined. He said it could easily contain duplicate names and unreliable spellings of names.
He said the list probably includes some who fled the blaze and do not realize they've been reported missing. It's also possible some of those listed as missing are safe, but have not checked in with authorities.
Honea admitted it's 'certainly within the realm of possibility that we will never know' the exact number of people killed in the blaze.
'It is my sincere hope that we identify everybody who is missing and identify any remains,' he added according to the Washington Post. 'But that is the nature of this tragedy... This is a massive, massive undertaking.'
The sheriff asked relatives of the missing to submit DNA samples to hasten identification of the dead.
'The chaos that we were dealing with was extraordinary,' Honea said of the crisis.
People across the nation are now scrambling to find their loved ones.
Paradise town devastation laid bare in wildfire drone footage
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A search and rescue team combs through the debris for possible human remains at Paradise Gardens with the help of sniffer dogs
Rescue workers shake a burned mattress as they search for bone fragments while collecting human remains from a home destroyed by the Camp Fire in Paradise
A firefighter searches for human remains in a trailer park destroyed in the Camp Fire in Paradise on Friday
Volunteer rescue workers search for human remains in the rubble of homes burned in the Camp Fire in Paradise
A search crew member and rescue dog search for human remains at a charred and abandoned car in Paradise on Friday
Rescue crews searched through a myriad of wrecked cars and charred home remains for signs of victims
A sign warning to looters sits in the foreground of burned properties in the aftermath of the Camp fire that tore through Paradise
Tammie Konicki, 34, says she drove 2,400 miles from Cleveland, Ohio, to Paradise to search from her mother of Sheila Santos, 64, who was last seen in her trailer home in a Paradise retirement community just over seven days ago. She's the only member of the 15-strong family to have not made contact, joining the list of about 1,011 missing people.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the number of people who died now stands at 74 while the number of people who remain unaccounted for now stands at more than 1,011
Konicki has been scouring local hospitals and shelters, but to no avail.
'I left Friday night and I drove here and got here Monday. The whole family's up here. I've got about 15 family members and a twin sister. When the fire started we were missing four. We found one here at the shelter, we found two at a hotel and now we're just missing my mom,' she said to DailyMail.com.
'She could be in a car somewhere, we don't know yet. We haven’t heard from her roommate and from my understanding, it’s pretty sure that he’s deceased. Nothing is confirmed yet,' she added.
Like thousands of others in the area, the fire has destroyed her family.
'We’re in limbo right now and being in limbo is miserable and so we just want to know one way or the other. I have 15 family members here and every single person’s house is gone. The whole family is destroyed,' Konicki said.
Remains of at least 74 people have been recovered so far in California. 71 of the victims are from the Camp Fire around the Sierra foothills hamlet of Paradise and three are from the Woolsey Fire near Los Angeles. Of the dead, 13 victims are yet to be identified.
The once picturesque town was home to nearly 27,000 residents before it was largely incinerated by the deadly Camp Fire on the night of November 8.
More than a week later, a team of more than 9,000 firefighters have managed to carve containment lines around 45 percent of the blaze's perimeter, up from 35 percent a day earlier. The powerful fire razed through more than 142,000 acres in a little over a week.
California resident surveys damages from Paradise wildfire
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Sherrif Kory Honea and members of his department visit a makeshift hospital in Paradise
Nearly 12,000 homes and buildings, including most of the town of Paradise, were incinerated hours after the blaze erupted, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) has said.
Thousands of additional structures are still threatened by the Camp Hill fire, and as many as 50,000 people were under evacuation orders at the height of the blaze.
But the blaze isn't over just yet. The National Weather Service issued a red flag warning in the Camp Fire region for Saturday evening into Sunday warning high winds could cause the flames to spread rapidly. The number of fire crews in the area was bolstered to help prevent the fire from gaining traction.
On the eve of a trip to California to survey wildfire damage, Trump told 'Fox News Sunday' that he'd spoken with another state's governor about how to control the spread of fires.
'You need forest management. It has to be. I’m not saying that in a negative way, a positive - I’m just saying the facts. And I’ve really learned a lot,' he explained.
'Nobody’s ever seen what’s going on over there and now they’re saying it could be as many as 600, this just came out before we met, could be as many as 600 people killed, up by 400,' he added on the fires.
'It’s incredible what’s going on,' he said of the missing persons count. 'And burned beyond recognition, they can’t even see the bodies, it’s incredible.'
His comments won his support from the American Loggers Council, a coalition of state and regional associations representing contract loggers.
'President Trump blamed poor forest management for wildfires in California and throughout the West, and there is truth to statements he has made,' American Loggers Council executive vice president Daniel Dructor said.
A small dog sits on top of a Camp Fire evacuee's personal property in a car at a Walmart parking lot
Tents are seen pitched on Friday in a field next to a Walmart parking lot where Camp Fire evacuees have been staying
People drop off freshly baked cookies and cupcakes to Camp Fire evacuees who are living in a Walmart parking lot
'It’s time to rise above political posturing and recognize that active forest management — including logging, thinning, grazing and controlled burning — are tools that can and must be used to reduce fire risks and help mitigate the impacts to landscapes,' he added.
Climate change advocates have hit back at the president saying that the globe's rising temperatures amplifies the threat of wildfires in California and the fires were not related to forest management.
The Pasadena Fire Association fired back at the president saying the inferno was not caused by forest management at all.
'Mr. President, with all due respect, you are wrong. The fires in So. Cal are urban interface fires and have NOTHING to do with forest management. Come to SoCal and learn the facts & help the victims,' the association said.
Many refugees from the fire have taken up temporary residence with friends and family, while others have pitched tents or were camping out of their vehicles.
More than 1,100 evacuees were being housed in 14 emergency shelters set up in churches, schools and community centers around the region, American Red Cross spokeswoman Greta Gustafson said.
The disaster already ranks among the deadliest wildfires in the United States since the turn of the last century
Firefighters worked to keep flames from spreading through the Shadowbrook apartment complex as a wildfire burns through Paradise
A home burns as the Camp Fire rages through Paradise, California on November 8
Authorities said more than 47,000 people in all remain under evacuation orders in the region.
Search teams, meanwhile, combed through charred, rubble-strewn expanses of burned-out neighborhoods looking for bodies - or anything else that might carry human DNA for identification purposes.
Authorities attribute the death toll partly to the speed with which flames raced through the town with little advance warning, driven by howling winds and fueled by drought-desiccated scrub and trees.
The Butte County disaster coincided with a flurry of smaller blazes in southern California, including the Woolsey Fire.
The Woolsey fire has been linked with three fatalities and has destroyed at least 500 structures in the mountains and foothills near the Malibu coast west of Los Angeles.
The latest blazes have capped two deadly wildfire seasons in California that scientists largely attribute to prolonged drought they say is symptomatic of climate change.
The cause of the fires are under investigation. But two electric utilities have said they sustained equipment problems close to the origins of the blazes around the time they were reported.
