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California’s wildfires could be the costliest disaster in US history, the state’s governor said, as forecasts of high winds raised fears the blazes could spread further.

In comments on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, Gavin Newsom said the fires, which have burned at least 22,000 acres, are the worst the country has seen “in terms of the costs associated with it, ( and) in terms of the scale and scope”.

He added that there were likely “many more” deaths to be confirmed. The death toll on Saturday night stood at 16, according to Los Angeles authorities.

The prospect of a pick-up Sunday in the Santa Ana winds that fueled the fires left thousands of residents under evacuation orders. As of Saturday, fires threatened homes in upper Mandeville Canyon and the Brentwood neighborhood, though officials said they were making progress in containing the development there.

The National Weather Service is predicting gusts between 50 and 70 mph.

Newsom, a Democrat, responded to several attacks from president-elect Donald Trump, who accused the governor of depleting water reserves to protect an endangered fish species, and of refusing to to sign a “water restoration declaration” that has “allowed millions of gallons of water . . . to flow daily to many parts of California”. Newsom’s office said. that no such declaration exists.

Trump, who has a long-standing feud with Newsom and called him “Newscum”, also called on the Californian to resign, accusing him of “gross incompetence”.

“The reservoirs are absolutely full, the state reservoirs here in Southern California,” Newsom said.

“That error and disinformation I don’t think is good or helpful to any of us,” he added. “In response to Donald Trump’s insults, we’re going to spend a month. I’m very familiar with them. Every elected official he disagrees with is very familiar with them.

Newsom also said he invited the president-elect to visit the affected areas, but has yet to receive a response from the Trump transition team.

The governor said on social media platform X that the Palisades and Eaton fires are 11 percent and 27 percent contained while the Hurst blaze is 89 percent contained. He issued an executive order that he said would prevent those who lost their homes from getting “caught up in bureaucratic red tape” so they could rebuild quickly.

The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Sunday raised the possibility of sending US troops to Los Angeles to help control the fire.

“There are active duty military personnel who are preparing to deploy on order, who are ready to come in and continue to support the firefighting effort,” Deanne Criswell told ABC’s This Week program. Speaking to CNN, he warned that strong winds expected in the coming days could further spread the fire.

No official estimate of the cost of the damage has been released, but AccuWeather analysts last week calculated economic losses of between $135bn and $150bn – short of the $250bn costs associated with Hurricane Helene last year. year.

President Biden on Thursday promised that the US government will pay for “100 percent of all costs” incurred by the disaster, and will ask Congress for additional financial assistance.

Trump, who on the campaign trail last year threatened to withhold disaster funding from California, has so far been tight-lipped on whether he would provide similar aid. On Sunday, he renewed his attacks on state officials.

“Incompetent pols have no idea how to put out (the fires),” he wrote. “There is death all over the place. This is one of the worst disasters in the history of our country. They just can’t put out the fire. What’s wrong with them?”