Apparently seeing a disaster as an opportunity to push partisan policy, the Trump administration has opted to continue its bizarre attempt to connect devastating California wildfires to a longstanding fight between farmers and environmentalists over water resources.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Wednesday issued a directive that prioritizes water for fighting wildland fires over protecting endangered species. The move comes just two days after California officials dismissed President Donald Trump s claims that the fires have been exacerbated by a water shortage resulting from bad environmental laws.

We have plenty of water to fight these wildfires, Scott McLean, deputy chief of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, told HuffPost on Monday. It is our changing climate that is leading to more severe and destructive fires.

Clearly, none of that has mattered to Trump and his team. In a statement Wednesday, Ross said the National Marine Fisheries Service will facilitate access to water that is needed to fight the ongoing wildfires. He did not provide any evidence to back the claim that firefighters need more water.

American lives and property are at stake, and swift action is needed, Ross said.

The order establishes that the protection of life and property takes precedence over all other current water use agreements. Going forward, it reads, the Department and NOAA are committed to finding new solutions to address threatened and endangered species in the context of the challenging water management situation in California.

Trump waded into the conversation about the catastrophic California wildfires via a series of posts to Twitter this week. But instead of thanking firefighters for their efforts or offering condolences to the victims, he took the opportunity to blast Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown and environmental protections.

Demonstrating a lack of knowledge about how watersheds function, Trump said vast amounts of water are being foolishly diverted into the Pacific Ocean. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke followed up Trumps tweets with an editorial Wednesday in USA Today in which he argues that the infernos are the result of radical environmentalists who file frivolous lawsuits to prevent forest management and would rather see forests and communities burn than see a logger in the woods.