Donald Trump, Joe Biden address climate change issue differently

Joe Biden on Monday branded President Donald Trump a 'climate arsonist' for failing to acknowledge global warming's role in deadly wildfires sweeping the western United States, while Trump said the crisis stemmed from lax forest management.

Dozens of conflagrations have raged with unprecedented scope across more than 4 million acres (1.6 million hectares) in Oregon, California and Washington state since August, laying waste to several small towns, destroying thousands of homes, and killing at least 35 people.

The fires also have filled the region's air with harmful levels of smoke and soot, bathing skies in eerie tones of orange and sepia while adding to a public health crisis already posed by the coronavirus pandemic.