California fires: Cher calls for Trump to visit victims of LA inferno

President tweets that his 'thoughts and prayers' are with those affected, but chooses to go to rally in Florida instead

A firefighter is working on extinguishing the Lilac Fire in southern California (Reuters)

US pop singer Cher has led calls for Donald Trump to visit the areas devastated by forest fires in California, which has already lead to the evacuation of at least 700 homes.

The star tweeted that the President would not come to Los Angeles and the other parts of southern California.

She said: “Trump says he won’t come to California to see our disaster. Some of his people are suffering here. They would be comforted by seeing him.

“We really should pull away. We have an enemy in the White House. He is petty, vindictive and hates us. He’s not a president, he’s a weak man with a grudge”.

Mr Trump has not explicitly refused to come to the state, where he won just 33 per cent the vote in 2016, but is instead going ahead with a planned rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Friday.

He has tweeted that his “thoughts and prayers” were with the people affected and praised the work of all first responders who were battling the blaze.

Mr Trump has been criticised for his perceived lack of support for Californians facing forest fires.

In October, while wildfires ranged in wine country in Northern California, the Los Angeles Times criticised his reluctance to visit the state even though he made “four visits to hurricane zones in recent weeks”.

Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle published an editorial with the headline “California burns: Where’s the President?” and said he had been “conspicuously mute through day after day of crisis.”

But even if Mr Trump were to visit, his presence may not be welcomed by some of the area’s more liberal residents.

US comedian Chelsea Handler, who had to be evacuated from her home, tweeted that Mr Trump was “setting the world on fire” both “literally and figuratively”.

The comment provoked a backlash on Twitter from Mr Trump’s supporters, who accused liberals of blaming him for the natural disasters that occur during his presidency but dismissing successes, like the record-high level of the stock market, as just coincidences.

They also derided the notion that Mr Trump was responsible for the climate change that caused the fires as he has only been in office for a year.

Despite this, Mr Trump dealt a major blow to America’s efforts to curb climate change and the Californian government, along with 13 other states, this week launched a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency for ignoring an 1 October deadline to update the nation’s map of areas with unhealthy smog levels.

In addition, the proposed Republican tax bill will neither limit or eliminate the provision that allows people who lose their homes in natural disasters to claim the loss against their income tax.