Donald Trump’s weekend visit to fire-ravaged California has prompted a withering barrage of ridicule and anger after he suggested the state should copy Finland in raking forest floors to prevent a repeat of wildfires that have killed at least 76 people.

He claimed he had received the tip from the president of Finland, who promptly said he could not remember offering such advice.

“You gotta take care of the floors. You know the floors of the forest, very important,” said Mr Trump during his trip.

“I was with the president of Finland and he called it a forest nation, and they spend a lot of time on raking and cleaning and doing things and they don’t have any problem.”

But in an interview published in the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper, Sauli Niinisto said he told his American counterpart that the secret lay in an extensive monitoring system.

“Finland is a country covered by forests but we also have a good surveillance system and network" in case of wildfires, ran his account of their conversation last week, according to the Ilta-Sanomat newspaper.