LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would work with California Governor Gavin Newsom to respond to the Los Angeles fires after earlier floating doing away with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

"We're looking to get something completed. And the way you get it completed is to work together to govern the state, and we're going to get it completed. They're going to need a lot of federal help," Trump told reporters after Newsom met him on the tarmac when Air Force One landed in Los Angeles.

Newsom, a Democrat who has had a tense relationship with the Republican leader, told Trump that California would need his support.

Trump was on his first trip since reclaiming the presidency on Monday. Earlier, in North Carolina to tour areas devastated by September's Hurricane Helene, the president vowed to sign an executive order to overhaul or eliminate FEMA, the main federal agency that responds to natural disasters. He said he preferred that states be given federal money to handle disasters themselves.

Trump accused FEMA of bungling emergency relief efforts in North Carolina.

"FEMA has turned out to be a disaster," he said during a tour of a neighborhood destroyed by Helene, where trees were downed and homes had boarded-up windows. "I think we recommend that FEMA go away."

Trump's antipathy toward FEMA is in line with his dissatisfaction with California's response to the fires. Trump has accused Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of "gross incompetence" and Republican colleagues in Congress have threatened to withhold disaster aid.

Trump has also threatened to withhold aid to California and repeated in North Carolina a false claim that Newsom and other officials refused to provide water from the northern part of the state to fight the fires.

Water shortages caused some hydrants to run dry in affluent Pacific Palisades, hindering the early response. When the fires broke out, one of the reservoirs that could have supplied more water to the area was empty for a year. Officials have promised an investigation into why it was dry.

Bass and fire officials have said the hydrants were not designed to deal with such a massive disaster, and stressed the unprecedented nature of the fires.

FEMA SHUTDOWN?

Experts doubt that Trump alone can shut down FEMA.

Rob Verchick, a former Obama administration official at the Environmental Protection Agency and now a professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, said eliminating FEMA most likely requires Congressional action.

He said FEMA was created by former President Jimmy Carter by executive order but has been assigned roles and funding by Congress for the country's emergency response programs.

FEMA brings in emergency personnel, supplies and equipment to help areas begin to recover from natural disasters. Funding for the agency has soared in recent years as extreme weather events have increased the demand for its services.

LOS ANGELES – Kebakaran yang merebak pantas di Los Angeles dan telah membakar lebih 10,000 ekar (40 kilometer persegi) menjelang malam Rabu, menurut Jabatan Perhutanan dan Perlindungan Kebakaran California ( Cal Fire).

Kebakaran, yang digelar Hughes Fire, berlaku sekitar jam 11:00 pagi waktu tempatan di kawasan Jalan Tasik Hughes berhampiran Tasik Castaic, kira-kira 80 kilometer (km) barat laut pusat bandar Los Angeles.

Api dengan cepat merebak lebih 8,000 ekar (32 km persegi) dalam masa kurang daripada 6 jam, dan telah melintasi garisan daerah ke Venture County yang berdekatan.

Setakat malam Rabu, kebakaran itu berjaya dikawal sebanyak 14 peratus, menurut Cal Fire dan tiada struktur dilaporkan rosak atau musnah, Ketua Jabatan Bomba Daerah Los Angeles Anthony Marrone memberitahu taklimat akhbar petang Rabu.

“Kami mempunyai lebih 4,000 anggota bomba yang ditugaskan untuk kejadian itu. Keadaan kekal dinamik dan api kekal sebagai api yang sukar dikawal, walaupun kita semakin berjaya,” kata Marrone.

Pelajar dari sekolah menengah dan rendah dalam komuniti Castaic telah dipindahkan pada petang Rabu, dan Kompleks Sukan Wilayah Castaic juga berada di bawah perintah pemindahan mandatori, yang digunakan oleh anggota bomba sebagai pos arahan.

Pusat Tahanan Pitchess di Castaic memindahkan 476 banduan ke Fasiliti Koreksi Daerah Utara yang berdekatan.

Perkhidmatan Cuaca Kebangsaan (NWS) Los Angeles memberi amaran pada petang Rabu bahawa angin kencang dijangka berterusan di California Selatan sepanjang tengah hari dan semalaman, seterusnya menghalang usaha memadam kebakaran terhadap kebakaran hutan yang marak di rantau itu.

Los Angeles County telah dilanda kebakaran yang dahsyat bulan ini.

Kebakaran Palisades dan Eaton, yang terbesar di daerah paling ramai penduduk di Amerika Syarikat, telah membunuh 28 orang, mencetuskan banyak pemindahan mandatori, dan memusnahkan beribu-ribu struktur. – Agensi

LOS ANGELES - Pasukan bomba keletihan terpaksa berhempas-pulas mengawal kemunculan api baharu di Los Angeles selepas Hughes Fire telah memusnahkan lebih empat ribu hektar kawasan sejak ia bermula dalam tempoh kurang 48 jam.

Hughes Fire di utara Santa Clarita mengancam lebih 14,000 struktur selain memaksa kira-kira 16,200 penduduk dikenakan arahan berpindah manakala 38,700 yang lain berdepan amaran pemindahan.

Menurut Jabatan Perhutanan dan Perlindungan Kebakaran California (Cal Fire), kira-kira 36 peratus kebakaran itu berjaya dikawal sehingga petang Khamis.

Selain itu, dua lagi kebakaran, Gilman dan Border 2 Fire dilaporkan muncul di daerah San Diego yang merebak melalui hutan belantara Gunung Otay berhampiran sempadan Amerika Syarikat (AS) dan Mexico pada 'kadar sederhana'.

Ancaman kebakaran hutan masih belum berakhir selepas Perkhidmatan Cuaca Kebangsaan melanjutkan amaran bendera merah ke atas sebahagian besar daerah Los Angeles dan Ventura, di tengah-tengah ancaman 'angin syaitan', Santa Ana yang masih belum reda.

Dalam perkembangan berkaitan, Gabenor California, Gavin Newsom menandatangani undang-undang yang mengarahkan bantuan berjumlah AS$2.5 bilion (RM11.1 bilion) untuk menyokong tindak balas dan usaha pemulihan kawasan di LA yang binasa akibat kebakaran sejak awal bulan lalu. - Agensi

JAKARTA (Reuters): Indonesian rescuers on Friday paused search efforts because of bad weather as the death toll from a landslide on Java island three days ago rose to at least 25 people, said a spokesperson for the local rescuers.

Torrential rain in the city of Pekalongan in Central Java province triggered the landslide on Tuesday, and hundreds of rescuers were deployed to the area.

Spokesperson Zulhawari Agustianto told Reuters rescuers had to stop work because of heavy rain and fog.

He said three more people had been found before the search was suspended, raising the death toll to 25. Officials on Tuesday put the number of dead at 17.

Zulhawari did not respond to questions on the number of people still missing.

The landslide occurred on a main road connecting Pekalongan to Dieng plateau, a popular tourist area.

Rescuers were being forced to walk about 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) to get into the site because the road was inaccessible. An excavator has also been deployed to clear the mudslide.

Separately, Indonesian authorities seeded clouds with salt on Friday to prevent more rainfall in Central Java, the country's disaster agency said.

Java is Indonesia's most densely populated island.