The president reignited outrage among those living in the disaster zone and with firefighters still battling the inferno just hours before he is due to touch down in California.
He said: "It seems many more people are missing than anyone thought even possible. And I want to be with the firefighters and the FEMA and first responders.
"We have a lot of things to talk about. We will be talking about forest management.
"I've been saying that for a long time. This could have been a lot different situation…Very expensive issue but very inexpensive when you compare it to even one of these horrible fires and will save lots of lives in addition to a lot of money."
Speaking at the White House this morning, Trump also praised the team of more than 9,000 "unbelievably brave" firefighters on the scene.
The president has been slammed for blaming the devastating fires on "gross mismanagement" of forests and even threatened to cut of federal aid to California if they don't take action.
He later approved a federal disaster declaration to send aid to the state where the number of people missing mounted from 631 on Thursday to 1,011.
The grisly death toll has also risen to 74 – making it one of the most lethal blazes in US history.
Firefighters have been working tirelessly to battle the flames with human remains starting to be removed from charred sites.
Cadaver dogs have been hunting for more victims – with cops asking relatives of those missing to submit DNA samples to speed up identifying the dead.
The massive missing list – featuring 1,011 people aged between 20 and 101 – was posted to Butte County Sheriff's Office website yesterday.
Trump will land around 2pm local time (7pm GMT) and is due to return back to the White House at around 4am Eastern Time.
He is due to meet governor Jerry Brown and those who had lost everything in the destructive Camp Fire, which tore through the 27,000-strong town of Paradise ten days ago.
A total of 71 of the victims recovered so far are from Camp Fire, while three are from the Woolsey Fire, which is raging near Los Angeles.
Michael Baldwin, a CalFire captain from Mendocino County, branded Trump's forest management comments as "ill-informed".
While Maggie Crowder – one of thousands of refugees pitching tents in a Walmart car park – said: "If you insult people, then you go visit them, how do you think you're going to be accepted?
"You're not going to have a parade.
"I would tell him that this fire has nothing to do with forest mismanagement. Thousands and thousands of homes got destroyed with no trees around."
A 9,000-strong team of firefighters have now placed a containment line around 45 per cent of the Camp Fire's perimeter.
More than 1,100 evacuees are being housed in 14 emergency shelters, while a total of 47,000 people remain under evacuation orders in the region.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation but fire chiefs have said the blazes burned near urban areas and engulfed places without trees.
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