WASHINGTON -- President Bush will visit Southern California on Tuesday, where the fires are dying down but the controversy is heating up over his administration's handling of the state's vulnerability to catastrophe.

Although Bush's precise itinerary remained a work in progress Friday, the trip's atmospherics will differ considerably from his last state visit three weeks ago. Then, he was scooping up money for his re-election campaign and conducting a carefully choreographed meeting with Gov.-elect Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Now, the focus will be the most destructive wildfires in California's history.

"The president (will) view the fire damage and receive an update on our efforts to assist the people of California," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Friday from Crawford, Texas. "Plans are still subject to change depending on circumstances in California."

Bush's decision to see the California devastation came one day after Schwarzenegger completed a trip to Washington, where the search for federal fire relief topped the agenda. The presidential visit also comes as California officials have begun suggesting that federal agencies let the state down in the months preceding the fires.

Specifically, the California officials are highlighting their April 16 request to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for assistance in removing damaged trees on 416,000 acres in Southern California. The federal agency denied that request last Friday, prompting questions now about whether the aid might have made a difference if granted.

"I have to say, I believe it would have," Dallas Jones, director of the California Office of Emergency Services, said Friday.

Gov. Gray Davis said he would defer to the professional views of Jones and state forestry officials.

On Capitol Hill, California lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are likewise grumbling not just about FEMA's rejection but about the six months the agency took to notify the state.

"We need to take a very hard look at why these decisions were made," said David Sandretti, spokesman for Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer.

In April, urged on by forestry officials and the state Office of Emergency Services, Davis sought federal help in removing trees damaged by drought and bark beetles. Davis specifically requested that FEMA help Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego counties under an emergency declaration.

Davis' four-page request estimated $430 million would be needed, with $300 million of this expected to come from Forest Service funds. That's a lot of money, amounting to about one-fifth of the entire Forest Service wild-land fire management budget for all 50 states.

A week after Davis' request, Republican and Democratic members of the California congressional delegation followed up with their own letter.

FEMA officials responded Friday by citing the assistance provided to the state once the fires began. Asked to explain why the state's earlier request was denied, a spokeswoman pointed to the rejection letter sent a week ago.

"FEMA recognizes the difficulties that the state of California and the affected local governments are facing," Michael Brown, undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security, advised Davis in the Oct. 24 letter. But, "after a careful review of the information ... and the resources already committed to the state, it has been determined that federal assistance through FEMA is not warranted."

The rejection, Brown noted in the letter, could be appealed within 30 days. Had the rejection come earlier, a state appeal could have been filed before the fires began.

-- Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service