US Interior Secretary To Visit California To Meet Wildfire Victims - Statement

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 14th November, 2018) US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said in a statement that he would visit on Wednesday communities in California devastated by wildfires.

"Heading to California to meet those affected by and fighting the Camp and Woolsey fires," Zinke said in a Twitter message on Tuesday. "Devastating reports. Thinking of and praying for all. Stay safe."

Zinke will first visit Paradise, the town ravaged by the Camp Fire that has already killed at least 42 people, according to The Hill. After that, the secretary will make a stop in Malibu, Thousand Oaks and Calabasas where the Woolsey Fire has burned about 150 square miles of land.

Zinke's plans to visit California were announced shortly after President Donald Trump blamed the state for poor "forest management" as well as after the reports about Zinke's possible firing.

The wildfire disaster, which started on Thursday and quickly spread across California, has already destroyed at least 7,000 buildings and devastated more than 42,000 hectares.

The 2018 wildfires in California became the deadliest and most destructive fires in the state's history.