Former President Donald Trump has made several public statements regarding California's wildfire management, often criticizing the state's policies and suggesting that California should improve its forest management practices to prevent wildfires. Here are some key points:

- In 2018, Trump threatened to withhold federal aid for California wildfires, citing what he described as the state's "gross mismanagement" of forests. He suggested that California needed to "clean" its forest floors to prevent fires, a comment made during a visit to the fire-ravaged areas in California.[](- Trump has repeatedly blamed California's forest management for the wildfires, suggesting that better management could prevent such disasters. He has criticized the state for not doing enough to mitigate fire risks, including during campaign rallies where he threatened to cut federal firefighting aid unless California complied with his demands on various policy issues.[](- In more recent contexts, Trump has threatened to withhold federal funds for firefighting in California if re-elected, specifically targeting Governor Gavin Newsom for not signing unspecified "papers" or complying with Trump's policy demands, including on water management.[](These actions and statements indicate that Trump has indeed urged California to take better care of fire protection, though his approach has often been framed in terms of threats to withhold federal aid rather than direct requests for action. His comments have been controversial, with critics arguing that such threats politicize natural disaster response and ignore broader issues like climate change which contribute to the increasing severity of wildfires.