FLASHBACK: Trump has long history of warning Newsom over 'terrible' wildfire prevention

"The Governor of California, @GavinNewsom, has done a terrible job of forest management. I told him from the first day we met that he must 'clean' his forest floors regardless of what his bosses, the environmentalists, DEMAND of him. Must also do burns and cut fire stoppers," the former and upcoming president posted to X in 2019. 

"Every year, as the fire's rage & California burns, it is the same thing-and then he comes to the Federal Government for $$$ help. No more. Get your act together Governor. You don't see close to the level of burn in other states," the thread continued. 

Trump's message to Newsom came as the Kincade Fire raged in Sonoma County from Oct. 23 to Nov. 6, 2019. 

"We're successfully waging war against thousands of fires started across the state in the last few weeks due to extreme weather created by climate change while Trump is conducting a full on assault against the antidotes," Newsom said in response to Trump's message, the Washington Post reported at the time. 

Just roughly two weeks before Trump will be inaugurated as the nation's 47th president, he again took aim at Newsom's wildfire prevention leadership in the state, pinning blame for the LA County fires on Newsom and his environmental policies. 

"Governor Gavin Newscum refused to sign the water restoration declaration put before him that would have allowed millions of gallons of water, from excess rain and snow melt from the North, to flow daily into many parts of California, including the areas that are currently burning in a virtually apocalyptic way,"Trump posted to Truth Social on Wednesday. 

Newsom's director of communications Izzy Gardon told Fox Digital in response to Trump's Truth Social: "We're focused on protecting lives and battling these blazes - not playing politics."

Trump has a long history of putting Newsom's handling of wildfires under the microscope across his first four years in the White House, including in January 2019 when he threatened to cut off federal funds to California if reforms were not made to the state's forest management services. 

"Billions of dollars are sent to the State of California for Forest fires that, with proper Forest Management, would never happen. Unless they get their act together, which is unlikely, I have ordered FEMA to send no more money. It is a disgraceful situation in lives & money!" he posted to X that year. 

"There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!,"he added in 2018 on X. 

"You don't believe in climate change. You are excused from this conversation," Newsom shot back at Trump in 2019, for example, after the president slammed him for his wildfire leadership. 

California Republicans, however, have echoed Trump that Newsom and other Democrats in the state "failed" in addressing forestry management. 

"The Democrats who control this state, have been in charge of the legislature, and hold every statewide office have failed to take care of forestry management in California," Assemblyman James Gallagher said on Fox News in 2020. "We have overgrown forests with brush piles 10 feet high and dead and dying trees and it's a tinderbox waiting for a spark."

The California governor pledged in 2019 to reform California's approach to wildfire prevention, but a 2021 NPR investigation reported the governor overstated the efforts. 

The state pushed back on the report, saying their efforts on wildfire prevention were hampered by the pandemic, "along with an unprecedented wildfire season which pulled our already strained wildfire crews away from prevention work to firefighting work." 

"The notion that the Newsom administration is retreating on wildfire response - in dollars or actions - is wholly inaccurate," the governor's office said after the investigation's findings were released. 

The Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan has since achieved and begun working on 100% of its 99 key actions, with the state also hiring an additional 3,000 new firefighters to CAL FIRE since 2019. 

Newsom propositioned 65 fire engines, seven helicopters, nine bulldozers, and more than 105 specialized personnel in Los Angeles, Riverside, Orange, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara, and Ventura Counties ahead of the fire spiraling earlier this week. The National Guard was also deployed in response to the fire.