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Trump baffles Finland with California raking comments

Finland has been left baffled after the US President praised the country for managing its massive...
Newstalk
Newstalk

10.58 19 Nov 2018


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Trump baffles Finland with Cal...

Trump baffles Finland with California raking comments

Newstalk
Newstalk

10.58 19 Nov 2018


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Finland has been left baffled after the US President praised the country for managing its massive forests by raking.

Donald Trump made the comments while visiting the town of Paradise in northern California – which was burned to the ground by a wildfire that erupted on November 8th.

The official death toll from the northern California fire is now at 77 – with over 1,000 people still missing.

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President Trump has angered state officials by blaming the fires on “poor” forest management and he doubled down on the claim over the weekend.

He told reporters that wildfires were not a problem in Finland because crews "spend a lot of time on raking."

He went on: "You look at other countries where they do it differently, and it's a whole different story.

"I was with the president of Finland and he said: 'We have a much different… we're a forest nation.'

“They spent a lot of time raking and cleaning and doing things, and they don't have any problem."

In an interview yesterday, Finland President Sauli Niinisto said he spoke briefly with President Trump about forest management when the pair met in Paris for Armistice Day commemorations the weekend before.

He said he remembered telling the president that "we take care of our forests," but said he has no recollection of the subject of raking being brought up.

Mr Niinisto said: "I mentioned to him that Finland is a land covered by forests and we also have a good monitoring system and network."

The president's comments have inspired Finns to post pictures of themselves raking on social media.

At the weekend Mr Trump visited areas in northern and southern California that have been devastated by two massive wildfires.

He pledged that better forest management practices will diminish future risks.

He said: "We have to do management, maintenance and we'll be working also with environmental groups. I think everybody's seen the light.

"I don't think we'll have this again to this extent. Hopefully this is going to be the last of these because this was a really, really bad one."


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