President Joe Biden traveled to California on Monday with the intention of touring the area devastated by the Caldor fire, in addition to lending his support to Governor Gavin Newsom, who faces a recall election on Tuesday.
Before arriving at the former Mather Air Force Base in suburban Sacramento, President Biden will stop in Boise to visit the National Interagency Fire Center, which is coordinating the federal and state battle against this year's wildfire outbreak in the West, CBSN Bay Area said.
"I am on my way to Idaho and California to survey the damage from the recent wildfires and meet with local officials. I will discuss our response to these events and how we can make our nation more resilient to climate change and extreme weather," the president tweeted recently.
Recently, Biden said during a visit to New York regarding the damage from Hurricane Ida that "the evidence is clear: climate change poses an existential threat, and to our economy. The threat is here and it's not going to get better. The question: Can it get worse? We can prevent it from getting worse.
While in California, the president is expected to survey the fire damage with an aerial tour of El Dorado County.
As of Monday, the 29-day-old Caldor Fire is 67 percent contained, but has spread through three counties - El Dorado, Alpine, and Amador - consumed 219,267 acres, and destroyed 1,003 structures, including several hundred homes in Grizzly Flats.
Yesterday, Biden declared a major disaster in the state of California and ordered federal assistance to supplement state, tribal and local recovery efforts in the affected areas.
Through a statement issued by the White House, it was detailed that federal funds are available to eligible state, tribal and local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of damaged facilities in El Dorado County.
In the evening, Biden will turn his attention to the recall election facing Newsom, traveling to Long Beach where he will speak at a campaign rally prior to the last day of voting, which will be Tuesday, Sept. 14.
Newsom is trying to fend off a Republican-backed effort to oust him, which, in part, is motivated by some residents' annoyance at his restrictions over the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the recall election nears, the polls have been shifting. According to the latest published by the LA Times and IGS UC Berkeley more than 60 percent of likely voters would oppose the recall, compared to nearly 39 percent in support. Much larger difference than just a few weeks ago.
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