President Trump is expected to visit Los Angeles Friday for a tour areas damaged by two of the deadliest and destructive wildfires on record in California.

Details about the Southern California visit, the first trip of his second term, were not available Thursday afternoon. It was not clear which locations he plans to visit or whether he will be joined by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent target of Trump’s insults.

The visit comes four days after President Trump’s inauguration and a day after state lawmakers approved a more than $2.5 billion fire relief package with bipartisan support in Sacramento.

As for federal fire relief funds, Trump has threatened to withhold federal disaster aid for Los Angeles unless California leaders change the state’s approach on its management of water. Trump, whose Los Angeles-area golf course on the Rancho Palos Verdes peninsula is about 45 miles south of fire-ravaged Pacific Palisades, briefly mentioned the fires in his inaugural address.

More than 16,100 structures, including homes and businesses, have been destroyed by the Eaton Fire and Palisades Fire, which started Jan. 7 in an extreme Santa Ana windstorm that fanned flames and tossed hot embers in a nightmare scenario for firefighters. Twenty-eight deaths have been confirmed in the fires in the Altadena area northeast of Los Angeles and the Pacific Palisades area on the LA County coast.

It was not clear whether Gov. Newsom will be part of the Friday tour. His office said the Democratic governor is willing and able to meet with the Republican president in Southern California.

The two have a complicated relationship at a fraught time for Los Angeles County.

The governor invited Trump to visit as Trump attacked Newsom, former President Joe Biden and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on social media in the days after the fires started. The weekend before his second inauguration, Trump said he hasn’t spoken directly with Newsom since the wildfires began.

“I invited him out here. I’m glad he’s coming out here,” Newsom said after signing the relief package Thursday in Altadena. “I hope he does take the time to listen to the folks directly impacted by the wildfires. I hope he has a chance to visit the folks in Altadena, not just in the Palisades. I hope he comes with a spirit of cooperation and collaboration. That’s the spirit in which we welcome him.”

The two had a sound working relationship during past crises, Newsom said.

“We had a great relationship during Covid. Well established. Well defined,” Newsom said. “I don’t think there’s a Democratic governor in the country that worked more collaboratively with the President of the United States.”

The two have traded attacks over the fires, which Newsom said he believes will be one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history. Among the claims promoted by Trump in the hours and days after the fires started was that conservation policies related to a small fish called the Delta smelt affect how much water is pumped from the fish’s habitat in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

“I don’t think we should give California anything until they let the water run down,” Trump said in an interview Wednesday with Fox’s Sean Hannity.

Izzy Gardon, Newsom’s director of communications, has called the fish conservation claims “pure fiction.” Newsom responded in an interview with NBC News, saying Trump is “somehow connecting the Delta smelt to this fire, which is inexcusable because it’s inaccurate. Also, incomprehensible to anyone that understands water policy in the state.”

In addition to fire weather conditions described by firefighters as among the worst they’ve ever seen, the early stages of the battle against the Palisades Fire in Pacific Palisades were hampered by water supply issues. Water tanks and some fire hydrants temporarily lost water because of high demand on the first day of the fires, local officials said. 

Water pressure issues, at one point and for several hours, impacted the ability to supply water to fire hydrants, officials acknowledged at news conference the morning after the fire started.

New questions are being raised about whether the City of Los Angeles and LAFD did enough to prepare in the days ahead of the destructive Palisades Fire. Eric Leonard reports for NBC4 Investigates on Jan. 15, 2025.

Erik Scott, the LAFD’s public information officer, said on X that morning that the LA Department of Water and Power had proactively filled all available storage tanks in the Palisades area, but water availability “was impacted at higher elevations, which affected some fire hydrants due to limited replenishment of water tanks in those areas.”

“The extreme demand caused a slower refill rate for these tanks which created a challenge for our firefighting effort,” Scott added.

Powerful wind gusts not only fanned flames, but forced the temporary grounding of all firefighting aircraft.

There also are lingering questions about whether the City of Los Angeles and its fire department did enough to prepare in the days ahead of the deadly Palisades Fire. Fire officials NBCLA has talked with say its not clear to them anything would have made a difference in saving homes, given the intensity of the winds and fires.

A family who lost everything in the Palisades Fire had their identity stolen and is now blocked from FEMA aid. Brittany Hope reports for the NBC4 News at 6 a.m. on Jan. 22, 2025. 

It’s also not clear what sparked the fires, which are the second- and third-most destructive on record in California.

Several smaller fires erupted around Southern California, where the first 23 days of the month included 15 days of red flag warnings, including a stretch of 11 consecutive days. The most recent major fires, the Hughes Fire in Castaic north of Los Angeles, added to what has been a grueling month for firefighters

The region is under severe to extreme drought conditions after a dry start to the wet season in Southern California. After two seasons of above-average rainfall, a months-long dry spell left hillsides covered in dry brush, providing fuel for wildfires.

Under a red flag warning, any fires that do start are more likely to spread at a rapid rate behind strong winds. Flying embers also speed a brush fire’s spread. Powerful gusts can cast hot embers for miles, starting spot fires ahead of the main fire line in a nightmare scenario for firefighters.

Preliminary Cal Fire stats illustrate the challenge firefighters in California have been facing in January. So far this year, the state firefighting agency has reported 255 wildland fires that burned abou 50,600 acres. At this time last year, 87 fires that burned 4 acres were reported.

The five-year average is 139 fires and 457 acres burned.



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