US President Joe Biden has decided to cancel his final foreign trip as head of state due to the wildfires near Los Angeles.
According to the statement, on the evening of January 8, the politician visited the disaster area in California and spoke with firefighters, rescuers and police officers working there. After that, he decided to cancel his visit to Italy in order to focus on leading the response to the disaster in the coming days.
According to Reuters, “After returning this evening from Los Angeles, where earlier today he had met with police, fire and emergency personnel fighting the historic fires raging in the area and approved a Major Disaster declaration for California, President Biden made the decision to cancel his upcoming trip to Italy to remain focused on directing the full federal response in the days ahead,” the White House said in a statement.
On January 7 , a wind-driven wildfire broke out in the western part of Los Angeles . Local authorities declared a mandatory evacuation of residents of the Pacific Palisades area. By January 8, the fire area had grown to 13.44 square kilometers. Biden then declared a major disaster state in California. According to the latest data, the damage from wildfires in the Los Angeles area is estimated at approximately $52-57 billion.
Earlier, Paris Hilton’s house in Malibu burned down.
