FEMA Administrator DeAnne Criswell said Sunday on CNN's “State of the Union” that Southern California's wildfires are caused by climate change.
“We're seeing changes due to climate change and we're seeing more severe weather events. That's what we're seeing here in California,” Criswell said.
Host Jake Tapper said: “You touched on what we're hearing from many survivors of these wildfires, which is that this is due to prolonged periods of extreme heat due to the climate crisis. The idea is that it's just a new world we're living in. The receding drought, the force of the hurricane, the Santa Ana winds all created a tinderbox to fuel this catastrophe, and the scale of devastation in Los Angeles shows that as a nation we are simply unprepared for the reality of the climate crisis. Does it show it?”
“What we need to do is look at what these new weather events are bringing, the severity of them, and what the future risks continue to be,” Criswell said. I think it's something to think about. And as tragedies like this happen, we use this as an opportunity to make sure that we rebuild our communities in ways that make them more resilient to these types of disasters. FEMA has been talking about this all last year. Over the years, we've worked hard to be resilient and help people understand what we can do to protect these communities and reduce their impact. These are the steps we need to take to ensure that the fires do not have as big an impact as we are currently seeing.”
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