California wildfires happen regardless of how much water is in plain sight

As I've scanned dozens of newspapers from around the US (and other countries too), among the best "letters to the editor", in my opinion, are published in the Tulsa World, an Oklahoma newspaper. Although Tulsa's citizens an sometimes stereotyped as being politically conservative, apparently, the brave editorial policy practiced by the Tulsa World staff has provided some of the best letters I have read during my cruising of dozens of other newspapers' opinion pages.

This "echo" letter, written by a reader in Bixby Oklahoma, describes the obvious.

Letter to the Editor: Trump's reaction to wildfires just stupid: from Lynn Bootes in Bixby OK

Donald Trump's recent comments on the wildfires in northern California were just plain stupid.

He could have expressed sympathy for those affected. He could have asked a few more questions from a Republican congressman. But no, he just has to confuse two entirely unrelated issues.

The Carr Fire and the Mendocino Fire are in rugged hill, chaparral and scrub oak land. The satellite photos show nearby full reservoirs — there is no shortage of water. The photos also show that the farming areas under irrigation are in a different region, the Central Valley, many miles to the east and south.

Californians argue a lot about how to allocate water; that is what they do. Central Valley farmers have a gripe about how much water ought to go to irrigate these flat fields versus let it go in the river to maintain fish and wildlife populations.

But even if the farmers had everything they wanted, fires would still happen in hill and mountain country.

What if Trump came to Tulsa and blamed water management at Keystone Dam and the Arkansas River for fires on the slopes and canyons of Colorado? What if he came and told us to solve things by logging the Cross Timber country? We wouldn't buy that.

It makes me wonder just how much chaos and ignorance in the White House we can survive.

Editor's Note: Donald Trump tweeted claims that the California wildfires are made worse by bad environmental laws that divert water to the Pacific Ocean. FEMA and California officials say there is no water shortage in fighting the fires. Fires are caused by hot, dry conditions, not water policy.