Mr Niinisto said their conversation focused on the California wildfires and the surveillance system Finland uses to monitor forests for fires.

He said he remembered telling the president that “we take care of our forests”, but has no recollection of the subject of raking being brought up.

Mr Niinisto said: “I mentioned to him that Finland is a land covered by forests and we also have a good monitoring system and network.”

The president’s comments have inspired Finns to post pictures of themselves raking on social media.