From a statement issued today by Joe Biden:
As devastating wildfires continue to rage across California, Oregon, Washington, and throughout the West, Jill and I are keeping everyone affected by this disaster in our prayers.
To the families who have lost everything; to the people forced to evacuate their homes; to the brave firefighters and first responders risking their lives to protect their neighbors — please know that we stand with you now, and that we will continue to stand with you for as long as it takes to recover and rebuild from this tragedy.
Our thoughts are also with the millions of Americans living just outside the path of these fires, forced into an awful choice between relocating in the midst of an ongoing pandemic or staying put in a place where every breath they draw forces them to inhale smoke.
The science is clear, and deadly signs like these are unmistakable — climate change poses an imminent, existential threat to our way of life.
President Trump can try to deny that reality, but the facts are undeniable. We absolutely must act now to avoid a future defined by an unending barrage of tragedies like the one American families are enduring across the West today.
Left unchecked, wildfires and other extreme weather disasters will only continue to grow in frequency and intensity, endangering the lives of tens of millions of Americans, ravaging our lands and waterways, rendering the air unbreathable, and laying waste to our economic security.
In the years ahead, there will be no challenge more consequential to our future than meeting and defeating the onrushing climate crisis.
Make no mistake: Climate change is already here — and we’re witnessing its devastating effects every single day.
We have to get President Trump out of the White House and treat this crisis like the existential threat that it is. pic.twitter.com/NXzkpaRVsY
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 10, 2020
The science is clear, and deadly signs like the fires out West are unmistakable — climate change poses an existential threat to our way of life.
We must act now to avoid a future defined by tragedies like the one American families are enduring today. https://t.co/iGNTQVOy3t
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 12, 2020