CALIFORNIA — As deadly wildfires that have claimed at least 31 lives continue to scorch California, officials are trying to help people find hundreds of missing loved ones.

Many of the missing are from Butte County, where the most destructive fire in state history is burning.

Some 228 people remain unaccounted for in the Camp fire, county Sheriff and Coroner Kory Honea told reporters Sunday evening. Meanwhile, 107 people previously deemed missing have been found, some in shelters, he said.

Honea said his office had received more than 550 calls from people looking for missing friends and relatives.

The Camp fire—one of the state's deadliest—virtually obliterated the town of Paradise, home to more than 26,000 people.

Twenty-nine people have died in the Northern California blaze. Further south, near Los Angeles, the Woolsey fire has claimed two lives.

The National Weather Service warned early Monday that "dangerous fire weather" was expected to continue in California.

"A tight pressure gradient will keep producing high winds, and very dry air is in place with low relative humidities. This plus the ongoing drought conditions will all create conditions favorable for fire weather," it said.

Honea said 10 coroner search and recovery teams were helping with the search for Camp fire victims' remains.

Near an evacuation center at the Butte County Fairgrounds in Gridley, Sol Bechtold told CNN affiliate KRON that he was looking for his mother, Joanne Caddy, who had been missing since Thursday.

Holding a poster of his mother in front of him, Bechtold said it had been a rough few days.

"We learned her house was destroyed the other day so don't know what's happened to her -- she's kind of homebound, she doesn't have a car. I need to find my mom -- I'm not giving up hope she's out there," he said.

CNN affiliate KTXL reported that many fire victims were still helping others. More than 30 Butte County Sheriff's deputies reported for duty despite losing their homes, the news station reported.

Colusa Police Sgt. Jarrod Hughes told KTXL that his Paradise home had been destroyed in the blaze, but that he had donned his uniform and returned to work once he got his son to safety.

Hughes has been looking for the missing and dead.

"It's my community, it's where I grew up. It's something I absolutely had to do," Hughes said. "There was no question about it. It was get my family to safety so I can get in and get back up there and help everybody else."
• Camp Fire: The largest of the trio, the Camp Fire has burned 111,000 acres across Northern California and is 25% contained as of Sunday night, according to Cal Fire. It has destroyed an estimated 6,700 buildings, most of which were homes.
• Woolsey and Hill fires: In Southern California, the Woolsey fire had spread to 85,500 acres and was 15% contained Sunday night, up from 5% the night before. The smaller Hill Fire covered 4,531 acres and was 75% contained. Together, the fires are responsible for the destruction of 179 structures, but another 57,000 are threatened, according to fire officials.
• Massive evacuations: More than 300,000 people have been forced from their homes statewide. The majority of those residents are in Los Angeles County, where 170,000 were evacuated.

Among those to evacuate were some celebrities whose homes have been lost to the fires.

The homes of Miley Cyrus, Neil Young, Robin Thicke and Gerard Butler are among those scorched in the Woolsey blaze. Butler posted a photo on Twitter of the charred remains of a Malibu home and thanked firefighters for their courage. Thicke posted a statement on Instagram thanking firefighters and volunteers who "risked their lives trying to save our home."

In a post on his official website decrying the impact of climate change, Young said "I have lost my home before to a California wildfire, now another."

California Gov. Jerry Brown also lamented the role of climate change in driving the fires.

"This is not the new normal, this is the new abnormal," Brown said. "The chickens are coming home to roost, this is real here."

Resources, including dozens of fire trucks and thousands of firefighters, are pouring in from out of state.

Firefighters on Sunday managed to contain flare-ups generated by high winds in canyons along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu and Bell Canyon in Ventura County, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said. But officials warned that the dry conditions feeding the fire are expected to continue into the week and new flare-ups are possible. Though the state's drought has eased slightly, it's still abnormally dry, according to CNN meteorologist Taylor Ward. That leaves a lot of dry vegetation to feed fires.

Osby urged those in mandatory evacuation zones to leave, warning that they can get in the way of firefighting efforts.

"We must remain vigilant and not let our guard down," Osby said.

Crews on the scenes of the fires are combing through blackened ruins of homes. The number of dead more than doubled late Saturday, and continued to rise on Sunday.

So far, 29 bodies have been recovered in or near Paradise, a town of about 26,000 that's been all but leveled by the Camp fire. Of the six discovered Sunday, five were in homes and one was in a vehicle.

On Sunday, officials confirmed that two deaths in Malibu were related to the Woolsey Fire, bringing the statewide death toll to 31.

The painstaking process of finding the missing and identifying the dead is challenging, with some of the bodies recovered burned beyond recognition.

"In some cases, the only remains we are able to recover are bones or bone fragments," Honea, the Butte County sheriff and coroner, told reporters. "I know that members of the community who are missing loved ones are anxious, and I know that the news of us recovering bodies has to be disconcerting."

Many bodies recovered from the Camp Fire were found inside or near homes or in vehicles, officials said.

Hours after the fire broke out, residents fleeing Paradise became trapped in gridlock traffic as the fire closed in. Some drivers abandoned their vehicles in the chaos and attempted to escape on foot. </s> (Reuters) - More than 200 people were missing early on Monday in California’s deadliest and most destructive blaze on record, one of two fires raging in the state which have killed at least 31 people and forced more than a quarter of a million evacuations.

The so-called Camp Fire 40 miles northwest of Sacramento burned down more than 6,700 homes and businesses in the town of Paradise, more structures than any other wildfire recorded in California.

The fire had burned more than 111,000 acres and was 25 percent contained by late Sunday, officials said. Its death toll of 29 now equals that of the Griffith Park Fire in 1933, the deadliest wildfire on record in California.

At least 228 people were still missing, according to Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.

In southern California, the Woolsey Fire has scorched at least 85,500 acres and destroyed 177 structures. The blaze was only 15 percent contained. At least two people have died in that fire, according to officials from the statewide agency Cal Fire.

The blaze has forced the authorities to issue evacuation orders for a quarter million people in Ventura and Los Angeles counties and beachside communities including the Malibu beach colony.

Celebrities at the People’s Choice Awards Sunday night in Santa Monica, Ca., asked for prayers and donations for residents and first responders.

Reality television star Kim Kardashian said, ‘It’s been a really rough week in our home in Calabasas, Hidden Hills and our neighbors in Thousand Oaks and Malibu.”

Actor Melissa McCarthy said, “Please keep the victims, volunteers and firefighters in your thoughts.” She also asked people to donate to the Los Angeles fire Department Foundation.

Hot, dry winds were expected to whip up the fires burning in both tinder-dry southern and northern California until Tuesday, officials said.

“Winds are already blowing,” Chief Daryl Osby of the Los Angeles County Fire Department said Sunday. “They are going to blow for the next three days. Your house can be rebuilt but you can’t bring your life back.”

Governor Jerry Brown asked U.S. President Donald Trump to declare a major disaster to bolster the emergency response and help residents recover.

Trump has criticized the California government in Tweets this weekend, blaming poor forest management for the infernos. </s> Authorities searched on Monday for more than 200 people unaccounted for in one of the wildfires rampaging through parts of California, voicing concern about a possible rising death toll, with gusty, dry winds expected to fan the flames.

The so-called Camp Fire, California’s most destructive on record, had left at least 228 people missing as of early Monday, according to Kory Honea, sheriff of northern California’s Butte County, site of the fire. That fire and one in southern California have killed at least 31 people.

Both fires have been whipped up by hot dry winds expected to continue through Tuesday evening, according to officials. The winds were expected to heighten the risk of fresh blazes ignited by scattered embers. More than 224,000 people have been displaced by the fires, officials said.

The Camp Fire, 60km north of Sacramento, burned down more than 6,700 homes and businesses in the town of Paradise, more structures than any other wildfire recorded in California. The blaze has probably caused between $2 billion (€1.8 billion) and $4 billion in insured property damage, Morgan Stanley estimated in a report on Monday.

The fire had scorched more than 113,000 acres and was 25 per cent contained, officials said on Monday. Its death toll of 29 equals that of the Griffith Park Fire in 1933, the deadliest wildfire on record in California.

Speaking on CNN, Mr Honea said that while he held out hope that many people listed as missing would turn up safe, “given what we’ve dealt with so far with casualties as a result of this fire, I have concerns that it [the death toll] will rise”.

In southern California, the Woolsey Fire had burned more than 91,000 acres and was 20 per cent contained, officials said. The fire had forced authorities to issue evacuation orders for a quarter of a million people in Ventura and Los Angeles counties and beachside communities including the Malibu beach colony. By Sunday night parts of the two counties were reopened.

At least two people have died in the Woolsey Fire, according to officials from the statewide agency Cal Fire, which has more than 3,200 personnel fighting the blaze. The number of people missing in the Woolsey Fire was not immediately available.

Many of those allowed to return were left without power or a mobile phone service, even if their homes were spared by the flames.

A smaller blaze in southern California, the Hill Fire, was 75 per cent contained and had burned 4,531 acres, officials said.

Wind gusts of up to 100km/h were expected in the mountains, valleys and canyons of southern California, raising the possibility of downed power lines and trees. This, in combination with low humidity, was expected to create the perfect conditions for fires to spread.

Local residents were despondent over the fire damage.

“It’s not the house, because you can rebuild. But it’s what is inside the house. It’s all gone,” Malibu resident Marcella Shirk (82) told KABC-TV. “And that’s what hurts, those kinds of things hurt, because you can’t replace that.” She and her husband lost their house of 41 years and its possessions. The house burned on his 92nd birthday.

Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, has asked US president Donald Trump to declare a major disaster to bolster the emergency response and help residents recover. Mr Trump, a Republican who has often criticised Democrat-led California on a variety of issues including immigration enforcement, blamed the state government in Twitter comments during the weekend, criticising poor forest management by the state for the infernos.

Brian Rice, president of the California Professional Firefighters, called Mr Trump’s statement “ill-timed” given the loss of life and ongoing search for missing people. “You can’t just make a blanket statement,” Mr Rice told MSNBC on Monday, adding that fires and forest management were complicated and that weather also was a major factor.

“Right now, what is needed is, really, support,” Mr Rice said.– Reuters </s> As another series of wildfires spread rapidly through California, more than 20 million people in the state are under red flag warnings Friday.

The Camp Fire in the northern part of the state has burned through 20,000 acres, while the Woolsey Fire in Los Angeles and Ventura counties quadrupled in size overnight. Meanwhile, the Hill Fire, located just down the road from the Thousand Oaks bar where 12 people were killed earlier this week in a mass shooting, has topped 10,000 acres.

Here’s the latest on each of the California wildfires:

Fire officials have issued evacuation orders for homes in areas of Chico, Calif., which has a population of roughly 93,000 people. (Chico is about 90 miles north of Sacramento.) 35 mph winds are hampering efforts to contain the blaze, which has already destroyed the town of Paradise, burning more than 1,000 homes and the town hospital. All totaled, 40,000 people have been evacuated from the path of the wildfire so far.

15,000 homes are at risk, according to CalFire—a number that could increase dramatically with the next update. While there have been injuries from the fire, there’s no official tally of how many civilians and firefighters were hurt or possibly killed.

Nearly 2,300 fire personnel are battling the blaze.

While not as big as the Camp Fire, the Woolsey Fire, which currently measures approximately 8,000 acres, is in a much more densely populated area. Last night it covered just 2,000 acres.

The Los Angeles County Fire Department has issued mandatory evacuation orders south of the 101 freeway to Mulholland Highway.

Early Friday morning, the wildfire jumped the 101 in Ventura County into Agoura Hills, closing a 4-mile stretch of the highway. Forecasters expect things to get worse today, as wind gusts will come close to 60 mph amid very dry conditions.

As of 5:30 a.m. ET, the fire was 0% contained. Nearly 75,000 homes are under evacuation orders and at least 30,000 are at risk. At present, 400 fire personnel are on scene fighting the fire.

With the area still reeling from the shooting at the Thousand Oaks bar, the Hill fire has spread to 10,000 acres, quickly shutting down the 101 Freeway.

News from official sources on this fire is not as readily available, but social media is filled with scary scenes. </s> CHICO — The Camp Fire became the deadliest wildfire in California state history Monday.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Monday evening that an additional 13 deaths have been confirmed, bringing the total number of deaths to 42.

The Sheriff’s Office released the names of three people killed in the fire, saying their families had been notified.

The people identified Monday were Ernest Foss, 65, of Paradise; Jesus Fernandez, 48, of Concow; and Carl Wiley, 77, of Magalia.

Honea said he has requested about 150 additional search and rescue personnel to assist in the search for human remains. Additionally, he has asked for cadaver dogs, portable morgue units and additional radio equipment.

The sheriff would not say whether he expected the fire’s death toll to rise. But he did say he wanted to complete the search in a timely fashion for both the families of the deceased and the communities that have been affected.

With the number of fatalities at 29 on Sunday night, it was tied with Los Angeles County’s Griffith Park Fire of 1933, which burned 47 acres.

The Camp Fire consumed more acreage, reaching 117,000 acres as of Monday evening. The fire started Thursday morning near Camp Creek Road in the Feather River Canyon off Highway 70 near Pulga. It quickly moved west and engulfed the town of Paradise.

Cal Fire said 7,177 residential and commercial buildings have been destroyed and 92 have been damaged. The damage assessment team has created an interactive website that displays which buildings have been destroyed and those that are still standing.

Containment increased to 30 percent Monday, but Cal Fire said 15,500 structures remain threatened. A total of 5,139 people are working on the fire.

According to Cal Fire, winds from the northeast are fueling the fire. Firefighters worked Sunday night into Monday to hold lines and protect homes in areas in or near Magalia, Brush Creek and Cherokee.

Fire crews are fighting flames “aggressively,” according to Cal Fire. Officials are concerned about possibly shifting winds, putting other areas in danger.

Fifty-two thousand people from the areas of Paradise, Magalia, Concow, Butte Creek Canyon and Butte Valley remained under evacuation orders Monday, and Honea said no new evacuation warnings or orders had been issued. It was not yet clear, however, when residents could return home.

There are more than 200 people still missing, according to Honea. A hotline network has been set up to report people missing and people found. The numbers are (530) 538-6570, (530) 538-7544 and (530) 538-7671.

Many of the evacuation centers are full, so new ones are being evaluated. Those open with space available include: Bidwell Jr. High School, 2376 North Ave, Chico; Yuba-Sutter Fairground, 442 Franklin Ave, Yuba City; Plumas County Fairgrounds, 204 Fairground Rd, Quincy; and Butte County Fairgrounds, 199 E Hazel St., Gridley.

Small animals can be taken to the Chico Municipal Airport, 150 Airpark Blvd. Large animals can go to the Butte County Fairgrounds, 199 E. Hazel St. in Gridley.

The Gridley fairgrounds are no longer accepting donations, but Gridley High School is. Chico and Pleasant Valley high schools Monday collected clothing for students from Paradise High School, and they’ll be able to pick from what’s available Tuesday at the small gym at PV.

Air quality is forecast to be very unhealthy through Tuesday by the Butte County Air Quality Management District. Smoke levels are expected to be the highest near the active fire, immediately downwind of the fire area, and within and downwind of canyon drainages.

People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid all physical activity outdoors. Everyone else should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.

The Butte County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday in their chambers in the County Administration Building to ratify a local disaster proclamation and a health emergency declaration concerning the Camp Fire.

Chief Administrative Officer Shari McCracken declared the local emergency Thursday, which is necessary to qualify the county for state and federal aid. The supervisors have to ratify it within seven days for it to remain in effect.

Butte County Health Officer Dr. Andrew Miller declared the health emergency Friday, because the debris from the fire likely contains hazardous material and probable radioactive material. Again it has to be ratified by the supervisors.

President Donald Trump on Monday approved a major disaster declaration for California, opening access to federal funding for people affected by wildfires in Butte, Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help residents and business owners recover from the disaster.

Residents and business owners can apply for assistance beginning Tuesday at http://www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-3362. </s> MALIBU, Calif. — A fierce wildfire in Northern California incinerated most of a town of about 30,000 people with flames that moved so fast there was nothing firefighters could do, authorities said Friday. Nine people died in what quickly grew into the state's most destructive fire in at least a century.

Only a day after it began, the blaze near the town of Paradise had grown to nearly 140 square miles (362 square kilometers), had destroyed more than 6,700 structures — almost all of them homes — and was burning completely out of control.

"There was really no firefight involved," Capt. Scott McLean of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said, explaining that crews gave up attacking the flames and instead helped people get out alive. "These firefighters were in the rescue mode all day yesterday."

With fires also burning in Southern California , state officials put the total number of people forced from their homes at about 250,000. Evacuation orders included the entire city of Malibu, which is home to 13,000, among them some of Hollywood's biggest stars.

President Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration providing federal funds for Butte, Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

When Paradise was evacuated, the order set off a desperate exodus in which many motorists got stuck in gridlocked traffic and abandoned their vehicles to flee on foot. People reported seeing much of the community go up in flames, including homes, supermarkets, businesses, restaurants, schools and a retirement center.

"A whole town was wiped out in 24 hours," said Rocklin Police officer Jon Gee. "It's crazy."

Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, said 157,000 people had been forced from their homes in three major fires in the Golden State, including the Camp Fire that destroyed Paradise.

In Southern California, some 75,000 homes were ordered evacuated in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, with the Los Angeles County Fire Department tweeting: "imminent threat."

Ventura County Fire Department Captain Scott Dettorre warned that as the fire crossed the famous highway 101, a major transportation artery, “it will make its historic and typical run all the way down Pacific Coast Highway, threatening more homes, more property, more lives,” KTLA-TV reports.

Fire officials initially ordered the evacuation of all 13,000 residents of the community, which stretches 21 miles along the ocean, but later scaled it back to the western two-thirds of the city.

The Woolsey Fire had exploded to more than 5 square miles Friday morning and was continuing to grow.

Homeowners fleeing the wind-driven blaze around Malibu jammed roadways as the fire crept closer to the affluent, surfside community, which is home to numerous movie and TV stars. The celebrity site The Blast said homes belonging to Mel Gibson, Caitlyn Jenner, Lady Gaga, Courteney Cox, Julia Roberts and Patrick Dempsey were located in the evacuation zone.

As cars snarled Pacific Coast Highway, some residents lined up five deep at a gas station for a last chance to get fuel. All were being directed south toward the safety of Santa Monica.

At the Point Dume Village shopping Center north of the famed Malibu pier, business was brisk at a coffee bar, the Cafe De La Plage. The customers all fit into the look of the locals — T-shirts, shorts and sandals — but many of them were evacuees who had fled their homes the night before in the belief Malibu would be a safe haven.

“I am just very unhappy,“ said James Collins, 48, from the small community of Cornell. He said he had been evacuated at 4 a.m. but he was taking it in stride, noting the rest of the nation has had its share of natural disasters recently.

“Other people have rain. We have fire,“ said Collins.

A pair of Dutch bicyclists in a trek from Vancouver, British Columbia, to San Diego were trying to stay ahead of the flames. They had gotten on the road before the highway closures and peddled as smoke billowed in the hills nearby.

“We are not afraid,” said one of them, Twan Goense, 24, of Delft, the Netherlands.

As the fires closed in on Malibu, one resident on Twitter pleaded for help in evacuating 40 horses from a farm, The Malibu Times reports.

Pepperdine University shut down its Malibu and Calabasas campuses and initiated shelter-in-place protocols as the fire roared southward, sweeping into the Santa Monica mountains.

The Woolsey fire was one of three ravaging the state, with the northern California town of Paradise largely destroyed overnight.

The swift-moving Camp Fire moved Friday morning into the eastern side of Chico, a city with a population of around 90,000. Fire officials said strong winds had hampered efforts to drop retardant by aircraft.

As the blaze roared into Paradise, it turned escape routes into tunnels of fire as the entire community of 27,000 residents were ordered to evacuate.

On Thursday, as flames engulfed Paradise, frantic residents racing to safety plunged into the thick smoke that darkened the daytime sky and made driving difficult.

“We were surrounded by fire, we were driving through fire on each side of the road,” said police officer Mark Bass, who lives in Paradise and works in neighboring Chico.

Bass evacuated his family and then returned to the fire to help rescue several disabled residents, including a man trying to carry his bedridden wife to safety. “It was just a wall of fire on each side of us, and we could hardly see the road in front of us.”

Sherri Pritchard said she only had time to grab a few pictures before fleeing with her family and dogs, even leaving clothes behind.

"It was crazy, because when we were sitting in traffic people were panicking," she said. "It was chaos. I couldn't believe what people were doing."

Reality TV celebrity Kim Kardashian-West, who lives in an area known as Hidden Hills in Los Angeles county, was among those forced to evacuate as the Woolsey Fire exploded to 8,000 acres, People magazine reported. She had been filming aerial shots in her private plane earlier for her Instagram Stories and realized her own home was threatened. Just landed back home and had 1 hour to pack up & evacuate our home. I pray everyone is safe,” she wrote.

Friday morning, fire officials reported that the fire had jumped Highway 101 near the city of Calabasas.

Flames consume a car and building as the Camp Fire tears through Paradise, Calif., on Thursday, Nov. 8, 2018.

Cal Fire Capt. Scott McLean said a couple of thousand structures were destroyed in the town about 180 miles northeast of San Francisco. “Pretty much the community of Paradise is destroyed, it’s that kind of devastation,” he said.

The National Weather Service issued red-flag warnings for fire dangers in many areas of the state, saying low humidity and strong winds were expected to continue through the evening.

Acting California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Butte County, where the fire was burning about 80 acres per minute at one point, according to UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain. That’s equal to about 60 football fields per minute.

The Hill Fire comes down the hillside near Thousand Oaks at Hill Canyon Road and Santa Rosa Road Thursday afternoon.

Earlier in the day, the Hill Fire near Thousand Oaks in Ventura Country needed just 12 minutes to jump Highway 101, one of the area’s primary roadways. It burned in the same path as the 2013 Springs Fire that torched 24,000 acres before running into the Pacific Ocean.

The Hill Fire had consumed 10,000 acres, or 15 square miles, according to Cal Fire, though the Ventura County Fire Department reported no injuries or structure losses at a Thursday night press conference.

“The first part of this fuel bed had not seen fire for many years. Drought-stricken fuels, Santa Ana wind conditions, low relative humidity, high temperatures: It’s a recipe for fire,” said Ventura County Fire Department Assistant Chief Chad Cook, the incident commander for the Hill Fire.

The Woolsey Fire triggered a mandatory evacuation order for the entire beachside city of Malibu. The Los Angeles County Fire Department tweeted that the fire is headed to the ocean, punctuating the message with the declaration: "Imminent threat!"

The fire swelled unabated to 8,000 acres over night in Ventura and Los Angeles counties with the Santa Ana winds fanning flames and forcing hundreds of people from their homes.

Reality TV celebrity Kim Kardashian-West, who lives in an area known as Hidden Hills in Los Angeles county, was among those forced to evacuate their homes, People magazine reported. She had been filming aerial shots in her private plane earlier for her Instagram Stories and realized her own home was threatened.

“Just landed back home and had 1 hour to pack up & evacuate our home. I pray everyone is safe,” she wrote.

Friday morning, fire officials reported that the fire had jumped Highway 101 near the city of Calabasas. </s> PARADISE (CBS SF) — The Butte County Sheriff announced Monday night that the death toll from the Camp Fire has risen to 42 after crews confirmed an additional 13 lives lost during their search for the missing.

The announcement came during regional officials’ 6 p.m. update on the Camp Fire.

Officials also said that the fire had grown to 117,000 acres with containment at 30 percent. The total number of single-family residences that were destroyed in the fire rose to 6,453 structures with 36 homes damaged.

Additionally, fire officials determined that 74 multiple residence buildings were destroyed with 11 of those types of structures damaged.

The total number of structures destroyed by the Camp Fire rose to 7,177.

A total of 52,000 residents have been evacuated due to the fire. Currently there are over 13,000 people being housed in shelters.

Earlier Monday, search teams returned to the historic devastation left by the wildfire that ripped through the communities of Paradise, Concow, Magalia and other smaller clusters of homes, incinerating everything in its fiery path.

Among those hoping and praying for word that their loved ones had been found safe was Ted Woods.

“Two of my friends are missing,” Woods said with his voice choking with emotion. “One out of Magalia and one out of Paradise. And I’m hoping it ain’t one of the body counts.”

Pam Mosher is searching for her daughter and son-in-law.

“It gets worse every day,” Mosher said as she held of photos of his missing relatives. “You try to tell yourself it’s going to be okay, you really don’t feel that way.”

Jake Hancock, who is a District Attorney Investigator in Butte County, is a member of a search team shifting through the rubble of burned down homes in Paradise, looking for human remains.

“We’re just going door to door, house to house,” he told KPIX 5. “Looking for families loved ones that are missing.”

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea put the number of missing at 228. The remains of 29 victims have been recovered, 25 of those in the town of Paradise.

The human toll has equaled the highest number of deaths in a single wildfire in California history matching the grim toll of the 1933 Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles.
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Ten search teams were working in Paradise — a town of 27,000 — and in surrounding communities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Authorities have called in a DNA lab and teams of anthropologists to help identify victims and asked families of those missing for DNA samples.

While President Donald Trump has blamed state forestry policies for the tragedy, outgoing California Gov. Jerry Brown told reporters Sunday that global climate change was the culprit.

“We don’t know the cause of this fire, and the town of Paradise certainly had a lot of preparation, but we’re dealing with existential conditions that, once they take off, certain amount of dryness in the vegetation, in the soil, in the air, and the winds get up 50-60 miles an hour — this is what happens,” Brown said.

“But, managing all the forest in every way we can does not stop climate change, and those who deny that are definitely contributing to the tragedies that we’re now witnessing, and will continue to witness in the coming years.”

Amid the ruins of Paradise on Sunday, there was a small bit of joy to celebrate. A member of Hancock’s search team found a scared and slightly singed family cat alive.

“I don’t usually get to recovery anything that’s alive,” said Vicky Vincent with the Shasta County Coroner’s Office. “It’s nice to be able to save something.”

And there were several joyful reunions on Sunday including John Warner, who had pleaded for any word of his grandparents during a TV interview.

“(I) Just hope that somebody is watching that’s seen them,” he asked. Moments later, his phone range, his grandfather had made it out of the deadly flames and was safe in a shelter.

A short time later he stood with his grandfather outside a Chico church that was serving as an evacuation center.

“We found you,” Warner said hugging his grandfather. “The lady that worked here (called) and said — ‘I know where they are art, they are over at the church.”

The shelters — like the one in Chico — have taken in thousands of evacuees who have lost their homes. The fire has destroyed more than 6,700 structures, most of them homes, becoming the most destruction in terms of loss of residences in state history.

Shelter volunteer Tim Wall said the system is being strained to its limits. He issued a plea for help Sunday.

“We’re so thankful for how the community has come together,” Wall said. “It’s been a major blessing. But this isn’t a one-day thing. This is long-term and we have to think that way. So food is going to continue to run out, so will supplies. We keep needing that. We definitely need medical supplies and medical professionals. A lot of our elderly are on oxygen and that’s running out quickly.”

In the Bay Area, the massive plume of smoke and ash driven western by the upper level winds continued to drape a layer of unhealthy air over the region early Monday.

The air quality indexes for several cities were among the worst in the world. San Francisco and Oakland had an AQI level of 166, Concord was at 161, San Pablo 168 and Livermore 174.

Local officials have issued an air quality advisory for the region, warning residents to limit their outdoor exposure.

Meanwhile, NFL officials were monitoring the pollution levels in Santa Cara. If the AQI reaches 200, Monday night’s San Francisco 49ers-New York Giants game could be cancelled. </s> Three massive fires are still raging in California, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes–and in some cases literally run for their lives, reports CNN . And things may only get worse as there are currently 20 million people under red flag warnings in the state. A red flag warning means that warm temperatures, low humidities, and stronger winds are scouring in an area, and thus provide an increased risk of fire danger.

Right now there are three main fires, including Camp Fire in Northern California, and Hill Fire and Woosley Fire northwest of Los Angeles. The Camp Fire has so far forced 40,000 residents to evacuate in Butte County, California. That follows evacuations in the town of Paradise, home to 26,000 people. After breaking out, Camp Fire spread at a rate of about 80 football fields per minute. There are fears that Camp Fire could reach the city of Chico, home of 90,000 people, many of whom have already evacuated to shelters.

The Woolsey Fire in Los Angeles and Ventura counties has led to the mandatory evacuation of residents with more than 30,000 homes under threat from the fire. The fire there reportedly grew from 2,000 acres to 7,500 acres in a matter of hours.

The Hill Fire is raging just miles away from the Woolsey Fire in Ventura County. Currently, it has spread to more than 10,000 acres. The fire spread across the 101 Freeway, leaving some drivers stranded. The highway is expected to be closed on Friday morning.

CBS Los Angeles says mandatory evacuations have been ordered for all areas of Camarillo Springs, Vallecito Trailer Park, California State University Channel Islands, Point Mugu Naval Base, as well as Dos Vientos and South Coast. </s> CHICO (KRON) - The Butte County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the death toll in the Camp Fire is now at 63 and 631 people are unaccounted for.

Authorities say 53 of those victims have been tentatively identified, but their names aren't being released to the public just yet.

There are 631 people reported missing but deputies say some of those people could be in shelters.

The blaze has burned 141,000 acres and has the deadliest wildfire in California history.

A grand total of 11,862 structures were destroyed in the Camp Fire and 9,700 of those were homes.

Fire investigators discovered a possible second origin for the start of the Camp Fire but the blaze remains under investigation.

WHAT OTHERS ARE CLICKING ON:
At least 11 people have been killed and more than 150,000 evacuated as two big wildfires rage in California, the Camp Fire in Butte County and the Hill Fire in Ventura.