Trump said Finland prevents wildfires by 'raking' the forest. Finns say it's #RakeNews

William Cummings | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption President Trump witnesses devastation caused by Calif. wildfires President Donald Trump met with California Governor Jerry Brown, Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom and first responders at Northern California wildfire-burned areas.

WASHINGTON – During his trip to view the damage from California's wildfires, President Donald Trump said Finland's President Sauli Niinisto told him that his country doesn't have the same problem with fires because it spends "a lot of time on raking and cleaning."

And then all Helsinki broke loose with social media memes mocking Trump under #RakeAmericaGreatAgain and #RakeNews hashtags.

On Sunday, Niinisto said he did speak briefly with Trump about forest management on Nov. 11, when the two leaders were in Paris to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. But he didn't recall saying anything about raking the forests.

Finland does have an impressive record of limiting wildfires. The Finnish Forest Association says the country's "diversity of species and habitats suffers from too few fires."

The Scandinavian country occasionally does controlled burns to clear underbrush, but the Finnish Forest Association primarily attributes the low number of wildfires to the country's large network of roads, as well as its numerous lakes, rivers and wetlands, which help slow the fires' spread.

Here's a look at some of the posts from Finland and elsewhere making light of Trump's solution to wildfires:

Rake it till you make it! #RakeNews

(Finnish proverb and folk wisdom) — Hiilisielu (@hiilisie) November 18, 2018

Hello Finland, this is your neighbor Sweden. We had problems with forest fires this summer, as you know. Did any of the firefighters you sent us leave some rakes behind for next year? What kind are the most effective? Asking for a friend. #rakenews #RakeAmericaGreatAgain — Martin Eriksson (@JMAEriksson) November 19, 2018

I perhaps wouldn't compare Finland and California climate-wise...

And besides, 80% of the country is classified as forest land. We don't exactly manicure all of it. https://t.co/fthi7FUw0N — Veli-Pekka Kivimäki (@vpkivimaki) November 17, 2018

When @realDonaldTrump thinks Finns rake forest - Sorry. That's #RakeNews. According to a Yale Uni study, there are an estimated 22 billion trees in #Finland or 4500 trees per person. Nobody rakes them. https://t.co/Vf0iS6eTx4 — VeryFinnishProblems (@SoVeryFinnish) November 18, 2018

Here I am just #raking around as all us #finns do to prevent forest fires. pic.twitter.com/lNFUiQoqmj — Iida Korhonen (@iidaKorhonen) November 18, 2018

1. We do have #ForestFires in #Finland

2. With #ClimateChange they have become worse

3. #California is dry, Finland is rainy

4. We have proper public funding for firefighting

5. We care about our forests#RakeNews https://t.co/Yq0pEcsPAK — Matti Kiviluoto (@MattiKiviluoto) November 18, 2018