President Donald Trump upon arriving Friday in Southern California to survey the damage from the recent, deadly wildfires said his just-days-old administration will fix the problems that led to the blazes and work with Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to achieve that goal. 

"We going to fix it," Trump said on the tarmac of Los Angeles International Airport while standing alongside Newsom. "We're going to permanently fix it." 

The region has had less than one inch of rain since last spring, which created the extremely dry conditions for the flames, fanned by Southern California's notorious Santa Ana winds, to spread quickly and at times uncontrollably.  

However, other issues that could have contributed to the losses include the government's land-management plan and water supplies for firefighters.  

The fires, in the Los Angeles County area that started about two weeks ago, continue to erupt and burn. Twenty-seven people have so far died, and 17,000 structures have been destroyed.

Newsom, the leader of arguably the country's most liberal state, and Trump, reelected about two month ago on a hardline conservative agenda, are publicly arch political rivals. But on Friday, they seemed, at least for one day, to put aside their political differences to help the state and its residents recover and prevent future disasters. 

"The best way to get it completed is to work together," Trump said. 

Newsom thanked the president for coming and said, "We're going to need a lot of federal help."

Trump, as president, and Newsom, as the state's lieutenant governor, met in 2018 under similar circumstances.

Earlier in the day, Trump visited western North Carolina where the recovery from Hurricane Helene that hit the region in September 2024 and killed at least 104 people remains slow.