By Kanishka Singh

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden has canceled an upcoming trip to Italy because of the California wildfires, the White House said on Wednesday, adding that he wanted to focus on managing the entire federal response to the fires.

The White House announced in December that Biden would visit Italy from January 9-12 to meet with Pope Francis, Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

“After returning tonight from Los Angeles, where earlier today he met with police, firefighters and emergency personnel battling historic fires burning in the area and approved a Major Disaster declaration for California, President Biden made the decision to cancel his upcoming trip to Italy to remain focused on managing the full federal response in the coming days,” the White House said in a statement.

The raging wildfires surrounding Los Angeles spread to the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday, after five other fires in the area killed at least five people, destroyed hundreds of homes and depleted the resources of blasting water supplies to the limit.