Newsom signs state of emergency to support California communities recovering from wildfires
BOCA RATON, Fla. – Gov. Rick Scott signed a state of emergency Thursday, allowing for state resources to be shared with cities and counties after wildfires ripped through Northern California. Scott, who on Tuesday toured with President Donald Trump at Trump National Golf Club in Rancho Palos Verdes, had originally been expected to sign the emergency until a congressional delegation pressed for more information.
Scott signed the state of emergency Tuesday to “address the wildfires in our state and to make sure we are doing everything we can to protect life.” The declaration allows for increased resources like firefighters, state planes and helicopters, and the National Guard and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to be shared with the cities and counties affected by the wildfires.
“I was very proud to sign the bill and take the necessary steps as governor to get our state on the front line of this crisis,” Scott said in a statement.
California is seeing the effects of climate change and wildfires are an ever-present danger in a state that has been struck by fires five years in a row in 2017, with one in Santa Cruz last year that was the worst in a century.
U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colorado, who had also been pressing for emergency declarations, said the signing could help firefighters from elsewhere in the country who were evacuating from the wildfires in Northern California.
“These wildfires are a result of climate change,” Gardner said in a statement. “Governors from states from coast to coast need to step up and help protect lives and property and our environment.”
The declaration was in conjunction with the $6.7-billion relief package Gov. Jerry Brown signed, which includes $8.5 billion in emergency aid.
Governors are asking communities to consider using the state to help keep communities from flooding, as well as to help people displaced by the wildfires, to stay in their homes, or to have a new