Kamala Harris Returns To The Golden State To Assess Wildfires

AUBERRY, CA — Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Sen. Kamala Harris returned to her home state Tuesday to discuss California's record-shattering fire season. Harris met with Gov. Gavin Newsom and emergency officials in Fresno Tuesday to assess the devastation from massive fires ravaging the state.

Harris was briefed with Newsom on the catastrophic 2020 wildfire season at Pine Ridge School in Auberry, California.

"Spent time surveying a burn site with @GavinNewsom in an area that has been devastated by the recent wildfires in California," Harris tweeted Tuesday. "I’m incredibly grateful for the courage of our brave firefighters and those who have come near and far to help those fleeing the destruction."

The community is nestled 30 miles outside of the city of Fresno and was devastated by the Creek Fire which is the 12th largest in California history, according to Cal Fire. The fire has burned 220,025 acres and was 16 percent contained Tuesday.

"Sadly, these wildfires and the devastation they cause are utterly predictable," Harris told reporters, according to ABC News. "Especially in residential areas, and you’ll see where the fire has just swept through. Everything is gone except the chimney… Those chimneys remind me of tombstones."

The VP nominee arrived on the heels of President Donald Trump, who left the state Monday after disputing climate change as a major scientific catalyst in triggering California's largest fire season in terms of acres burned.

Newsom, who on Monday confronted Trump on Monday about forest management and climate change, joined Harris on her visit to the Golden State.

SEE ALSO: Trump Disputes Climate Change As Reason For Record Fire Season

The Biden-Harris campaign has resuscitated climate change as a major component to their campaign in light of the catastrophic fires that have taken the West Coast by storm, killing at least 35 people collectively.

Spent time surveying a burn site with @GavinNewsom in an area that has been devastated by the recent wildfires in California. I’m incredibly grateful for the courage of our brave firefighters and those who have come near and far to help those fleeing the destruction. pic.twitter.com/EHSUPgkOsl
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 15, 2020

Democratic Presidential Nominee, Joe Biden, crowned Trump as a "climate arsonist" Monday after the president's briefing with Newsom, Cal Fire and forestry officials.

During the president's visit Monday, Trump dismissed substantial scientific evidence of climate change, asserting "it'll get cooler, you just watch."

California Secretary of Natural Resources Wade Crawfoot, politely replied, "I wish science agreed with you."

"I don't think science knows, actually," the president quipped, repeatedly insisting that forest management was the key cause of this year's catastrophic fire season.

In the same meeting, Newsom gently reminded the president that 57 percent of the forest land in California is federally owned.

While the two politicians could be not differ more vastly on policy, especially pertaining to climate change, they have maintained an efficient working relationship, according to both Newsom and Trump.

READ MORE: 35 Dead In Wildfires; President: 'It'll Start Getting Cooler'

During a Monday fundraiser with former First Lady Hillary Clinton, Harris shot down Trump’s opinions of rising climates, ABC News reported.

"The fact is that we are in the midst of an incredible crisis, because our climate is changing in drastic form, which is leading to California burning in many places, which is leading to storms hitting our Gulf Coast repeatedly year after year and getting worse," Harris said, according to ABC News. "And we have a president in Donald Trump who has pretty much denied the science and even today, could not with the full voice, speak to the fact that we have to address this and we have to address it around projection of what's predictable, in terms of not only drought, but electrical fires based on lightning, which is part of what we saw in California."

Our planet can’t afford four more years of Donald Trump. Together, @JoeBiden and I will take immediate action to tackle the climate crisis head-on. pic.twitter.com/K16pAa144G
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) September 15, 2020