Finland baffled over Donald Trump raking comments during California wildfire visit

Finland has been left baffled after Donald Trump praised the country for managing its massive forests by raking.

The US president told reporters while visiting the ruins of the northern California town where a fire killed at least 77 people that wildfires were not a problem in Finland because crews "spend a lot of time on raking".

He went on: "You look at other countries where they do it differently, and it's a whole different story.

"I was with the president of Finland and he said: 'We have a much different… we're a forest nation.' And they spent a lot of time raking and cleaning and doing things, and they don't have any problem."

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in an interview published in the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper that he spoke briefly with Mr Trump about managing forests on 11 November when they were both in Paris for Armistice Day commemorations.

Mr Niinisto said their conversation focused on the California wildfires and the surveillance system Finland uses to monitor forests for fires.

He said he remembered telling the president that "we take care of our forests", but has no recollection of the subject of raking being brought up.

Mr Niinisto said: "I mentioned to him that Finland is a land covered by forests and we also have a good monitoring system and network."

The president's comments have inspired Finns to post pictures of themselves raking on social media.

At the weekend Mr Trump visited areas in northern and southern California that have been devastated by two massive wildfires.

He pledged that better forest management practices will diminish future risks.

He said: "We have to do management, maintenance and we'll be working also with environmental groups. I think everybody's seen the light.

"I don't think we'll have this again to this extent. Hopefully this is going to be the last of these because this was a really, really bad one."