Death toll in Northern California wildfire climbs to 48, as grim search continues
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
The remains of six more victims in a deadly Northern California wildfire were found by searchers on Tuesday, bringing the death toll in the Camp Fire to 48, the sheriff said.
All six sets of remains were found in homes in the area of Paradise, a town devastated by the Camp Fire which broke out Thursday morning and is considered to be the most destructive and deadliest fire in recorded California history.
Butte County Sheriff-Coroner Kory L. Honea said that he's requested 100 National Guard troops to work in conjunction with those searching for human remains in the fire, which as of Tuesday night has burned around 130,000 acres and was 35 percent contained.
"We want to be able to cover as much ground as quickly as we possibly can," Honea said, adding that even after a search is done and people are allowed to return to the community, it’s possible more remains may be found.
"I know that that's a very difficult thing to think about, but that's the difficult situation that we find ourselves in today,” he said.
The Camp Fire is one of two deadly wildfires burning at opposite ends of California.
In Southern California near Los Angeles, the Woolsey Fire that broke out Thursday afternoon has killed two people near Malibu, burned more than 97,100 acres — an area around the size of the city of Denver — and destroyed an estimated at least 435 homes and other structures. A fire official said the number of destroyed structures is expected to rise significantly as assessments are done. The fire was 40 percent contained Tuesday night.
The Camp Fire broke out at around 6:33 a.m. on Thursday in Butte County, north of Sacramento, according to officials. An estimated 7,600 single-family homes and 260 commercial structures have been destroyed, and the town of Paradise, population around 26,000, was devastated by the blaze.
The Camp Fire is the deadliest in state history, surpassing the 1933 Griffith Park Fire that killed 29 people, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
As the fire overtook Paradise as people were evacuating Thursday, Cal Fire Division Chief David Hawks, who is also the fire chief for the town, saw one of two ambulances transporting patients from a hospital to safety catch fire, and directed everyone inside that vehicle and in another ambulance to a cul-de-sac.
With embers raining down in what Hawks likened to snowflakes in a blizzard, they sought shelter in a house and prepared to ride it out. One of the four paramedics was able to get in the home’s garage through a doggie door and unlock the door, and the four patients were moved inside, he said. There were also three nurses.
"What I told everyone: ‘We’re going to ride the fire out here and we need to protect this home,’ Hawks said Tuesday. "You know, this is our Fort Knox, basically."
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One can only hope that the winds die down and give the firefighters some time to stop these fires.
Having lived in Cali for decades and having been through some wildfires, this one is one I can't wrap my head around. Friends have lost everything in the Santa Rosa fire and other friends lost everything 2 years ago in the Clear Lake fire. Their lives are still a shambles.
If your able donate a couple of bucks or whatever you can afford, the people and animals need all the help they can get.
It is so sad to watch the videos of those who have lost everything. And then think of those who still dont know if they will have anything if this fire keeps up.
So sad in so many ways!!