Jerry Brown blames ‘those who deny’ global warming for deadly wildfires

By Michael Bastasch

California Gov. Jerry Brown said “those who deny” man-made global warming are “definitely contributing” to the deadly, devastating wildfires forcing thousands of residents out of their homes.

Wikimedia Commons/Bob Tilden

“Those who deny that are definitely contributing to the tragedies that we’re now witnessing, and will continue to witness in the coming years,” Brown said.

Brown made the comments during a Sunday press conference where he warned that global warming created a “new abnormal” for the state, including fueling deadly wildfires. The Democrat said better forest management was only a partial solution to the problem.

“Managing the forests in every way we can does not stop climate change, and those who deny that are definitely contributing to the tragedies that we’re now witnessing, and will continue to witness in the coming years,” Brown said.

“The chickens are coming home to roost. This is real here,” Brown said before saying he wanted people to “pull together” to tackle the problem.

Three major fires scorched more than 200,000 acres, mostly in Northern California, since Thursday, according to Cal Fire. Firefighters only contained about one-quarter of raging infernos, which left at least 31 dead.

The 111,000-acre Camp Fire became the most destructive in state history, destroying more than 6,800 structures and displacing tens of thousands of people. The fire spread quickly due to bone-dry conditions and fast-moving Santa Ana winds.

Brown’s comments come after President Donald Trump said he’d pull federal funding if California did not “remedy” its wildfire problems. Trump blamed “poor” forest management for increasingly large fires.

“There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor,” Trump tweeted Saturday morning.

“Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!” Trump tweeted.

Trump’s tweet sparked outrage among Democrats, but wildfire experts do say decades of mismanagement on federal and state lands increased fire risks in recent decades. Development into fire prone areas have also played a role in fires becoming larger and more destructive.

Virtually all California wildfires are man-made, according to an August analysis by U.S. Geological Survey expert Jon Keeley. The explosion of development into wildfire-prone areas is increasing the risks of ignitions from engines, power lines and lawn mowers, Keeley said.

Utility PG&E may be to blame for the deadly blaze, CBS Sacramento reported Friday night. State officials blamed PG&E power lines, conductors and power poles earlier this year for 12 deadly Northern California fires that raged in 2017.

However, Brown vetoed bipartisan legislation requiring utilities to do more to mitigate wildfire risks near power lines and electricity infrastructure. Instead, Brown signed a bill in September that would allow PG&E, the state’s largest utility, to bill ratepayers for legal liabilities for wildfires in 2017.

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Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/Bob Tilden

4 thoughts on “Jerry Brown blames ‘those who deny’ global warming for deadly wildfires

  1. I think the forest management practice of not cutting old growth is a problem. Love to hear Bruce Shields or Bill Sayre on this. No doubt drought, whatever the cause, is a major contributor. They need to be adapting to change.

  2. The only thing it has to do with is global Marxism,however gov. Moonbeam buys into Marxism.

    Economic Systems: The alarmists keep telling us their concern about global warming is all about man’s stewardship of the environment. But we know that’s not true. A United Nations official has now confirmed this.

    At a news conference last week in Brussels, Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, admitted that the goal of environmental activists is not to save the world from ecological calamity but to destroy capitalism.

    “This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years, since the Industrial Revolution,” she said.

    The only economic model in the last 150 years that has ever worked at all is capitalism. The evidence is prima facie: From a feudal order that lasted a thousand years, produced zero growth and kept workdays long and lifespans short, the countries that have embraced free-market capitalism have enjoyed a system in which output has increased 70-fold, work days have been halved and lifespans doubled.

    https://www.investors.com/climate-change-scare-tool-to-destroy-capitalism

  3. According to Spanish accounts, California had huge wildfires in the 1600s and 1700s and 1800s.

    There was little damage to human detritus, because there were so few people, at most a few hundred thousand.

    Now there are 34 million, driving around like maniacs on 12-lane highways to get from one shopping center to another.

    Hey, Jerry Brown, just open the border to let in more of the uneducated, the unskilled, the bottom of the barrel, and make it a lot worse.

    It has nothing to do with deniers.

    It is all your fault.

  4. California Gov. Jerry Brown said “those who deny” man-made global warming are “definitely contributing” to the deadly, devastating wildfires forcing thousands of residents out of their homes

    Hey Moonbeam, I think it’s Gods way of dealing with Liberal DemocRATs !!

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