PARADISE (AP) – Authorities searching through the blackened aftermath of California’s deadliest wildfire have released the names of about 100 people who are still missing, including many in their 80s and 90s, and dozens more could still be unaccounted for.

As the names were made public late Tuesday, additional crews joined the search, and the statewide death toll climbed to at least 51, with 48 dead in Northern California and three fatalities in Southern California.

“We want to be able to cover as much ground as quickly as we possibly can,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. “This is a very difficult task.”

A sheriff’s department spokeswoman, Megan McMann, acknowledged that the list was incomplete. She said detectives are concerned they will be overwhelmed by calls from relatives if the entire list is released.

“We can’t release them all at once,” McMann said. “So they are releasing the names in batches.” She said the list would be updated.

Authorities have not updated the total number of missing since Sunday, when 228 people were unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, friends and relatives of the missing grew increasingly desperate. A message board at a shelter was filled with photos of the missing and pleas for any information.

“I hope you are okay,” read one hand-written note on the board filled with sheets of notebook paper. Another had a picture of a missing man: “If seen, please have him call.”

Some of the missing are not on the list, said Sol Bechtold, who is searching for his 75-year-old mother, Joanne Caddy, whose house burned down along with the rest of her neighborhood in Magalia, just north of Paradise, the town of 27,000 that was consumed by flames last week.

Bechtold said he spoke with the sheriff’s office Wednesday morning, and they confirmed they have an active missing person’s case on Caddy. But Caddy, a widow who lived alone and did not drive, was not on the list.

“The list they published is missing a lot of names,” Bechtold said. Community members have compiled their own list.

Greg Gibson was one of the people searching the message board Tuesday, hoping to find information about his neighbors. They’ve been reported missing, but he does not know if they tried to escape or hesitated a few minutes too long before fleeing Paradise, where about 7,700 homes were destroyed.

“It happened so fast. It would have been such an easy decision to stay, but it was the wrong choice,” Gibson said from the Neighborhood Church in Chico, California, which was serving as a shelter for some of the more than 1,000 evacuees.

Inside the church, evacuee Harold Taylor chatted with newfound friends. The 72-year-old Vietnam veteran, who walks with a cane, said he received a call Thursday morning to evacuate immediately. He saw the flames leaping up behind his house, left with the clothes on his back and barely made it out alive.

Along the way, he tried to convince his neighbor to get in his car and evacuate with him, but the neighbor declined. He doesn’t know what happened to his friend.

“We didn’t have 10 minutes to get out of there,” he said. “It was already in flames downtown, all the local restaurants and stuff,” he said.

The search for the dead was drawing on portable devices that can identify someone’s genetic material in a couple of hours, rather than days or weeks.

“In many circumstances, without rapid DNA technology, it’s just such a lengthy process,” said Frank DePaolo, a deputy commissioner of the New York City medical examiners’ office, which has been at the forefront of the science of identifying human remains since 9/11.

Before the Paradise tragedy, the deadliest single fire on record in California was a 1933 blaze in Griffith Park in Los Angeles that killed 29.

At the other end of the state, firefighters made progress against a massive blaze that has killed two people in star-studded Malibu and destroyed well over 400 structures in Southern California.

The flames roared to life again in a mountainous wilderness area Tuesday, sending up a huge plume of smoke near the community of Lake Sherwood. Still, firefighters made gains.

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke canceled a trip to Asia and planned to visit the fire zones Wednesday and Thursday.

The cause of the fires remained under investigation, but they broke out around the time and place that two utilities reported equipment trouble. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, who takes office in January, sidestepped questions about what action should be taken against utilities if their power lines are found to be responsible.

People who lost homes in the Northern California blaze sued Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on Tuesday, accusing the utility of negligence and blaming it for the fire. An email to PG&E was not immediately returned.

Linda Rawlings was on a daylong fishing trip with her husband and 85-year-old father when the fire broke out.

Her next-door neighbors opened the back gate so her three dogs could escape before they fled the flames, and the dogs were picked up several days later waiting patiently in the charred remains of their home, she said.

After days of uncertainty, Rawlings learned Tuesday morning that her “Smurf blue” home in Magalia burned to the ground.

She sat looking shell-shocked on the curb outside a hotel in Corning.

“Before, you always have hope,” she said. “You don’t want to give up. But now we know.” </s> That list included many people in their 80s and 90s, the Associated Press reported. Officials said late Wednesday they had found eight more bodies in Northern California, bringing the death toll there to 56, many of them from Paradise, a town of more than 26,000 that has virtually been destroyed. </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> The number of people still missing after a northern California wildfire obliterated the mountain town of Paradise, dropped to 249 on Sunday, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office said. The search for the dead will continue at first light Sunday, in the ash and rubble of the so-called Camp Fire that started on Nov. 8 and killed at least 85 people and destroyed nearly 14,000 homes, in and around Paradise, California, about 175 miles (280 km) northeast of San Francisco. The death toll was increased late Saturday night by one, according to the Butte County Sheriff’s Office. </s> Butte County's Camp Fire — already the state's most deadly and destructive in modern history — had killed 56 people as of Wednesday, Sheriff Kory Honea said at a press conference.

That's up from 48 deaths on Tuesday. Honea said the eight additional bodies found Wednesday all were in Paradise. Only three victims have been identified so far: Concow resident 48-year-old Jesus Fernandez, Magalia resident 77-year-old Carl Wiley and 65-year-old Ernest Foss, of Paradise.

Meanwhile, Honea said there still are 130 people unaccounted for in the fire, a decrease from 228 people earlier this week.

Honea said advanced DNA technology was en route to Butte County to help identify the dead, and his office has already tentatively done that for 47 of the victims. He told area residents on Tuesday that, because it's "very, very difficult" to identify fire victims, the general population might end up finding bodies themselves when they're let back home.

The news also came as Honea acknowledged it was possible some bodies would never be identified because of how severely the fire burned.

The destruction from the fire has also gotten worse.

The number of structures destroyed went up Wednesday to 10,321 — of which 8,650 are single-family homes. The fire's size also grew to 138,000 acres Wednesday, fire officials said at a press conference.

The blaze that broke out in the Paradise area on the morning of November 8 was still 35 percent containment. It has forced the evacuation of 52,000, of whom 1,385 are still in shelters.

The unprecedented fire damaged far fewer structures than it's destroyed. The current damage toll is at only 217 total structures.

Meanwhile, county officials confirmed Wednesday that there was an outbreak of norovirus at the Neighborhood Church shelter in Chico. They said they didn't know how many people were affected. Those who are sick are separated from everyone else and being treated by public health nurses, they said.

These are the people who were still considered missing as of Tuesday evening (If you are on this list, the sheriff's office asks you to call 530-538-6570, 530-538-7544 or 530-538-7671 to let them know you're safe):

More: JUST POSTED: FEMA opens in Oroville as Camp Fire grows Wednesday </s> Terrible news from the region just north of Sacramento California where the devastating ‘Camp Fire’ impacted the town of Paradise. Late Wednesday evening search and recovery workers located another eight sets of human remains bringing the total death toll from this single fire event to 56. The death toll is anticipated to climb…

Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and FEMA Director Brock Long visited the devastated area today to thank firefighters and rescue workers. The search for bodies is gruesome as some human remains are found inside burned structures and others outside.

CALIFORNIA – 9 p.m. ET: As of Wednesday night, eight more human remains have been found, bringing the death toll to 56. Six of them were found inside structures and two were found outside. Statewide, the death toll is 59 (including three from the Woolsey Fire). There have been more than 10,000 structures destroyed by the Camp Fire, including homes. The total amount of evacuated residents remains at 52,000 people. The Camp Fire containment remains at 35 percent. Some 138,000 acres have been scorched.

Authorities searching through the blackened aftermath of California’s deadliest wildfire Wednesday released the names of some 130 people who are unaccounted, including many in their 80s and 90s, and dozens more could still be unaccounted for. As the names of the missing were made public, additional crews joined the search. “We want to be able to cover as much ground as quickly as we possibly can,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. “This is a very difficult task.” A sheriff’s department spokeswoman, Megan McMann, acknowledged that the list of the missing was incomplete. She said detectives were concerned about being overwhelmed with calls from relatives if the entire list were released. (read more) </s> FREETOWN, Sierra Leone (AP) — The Red Cross estimates that 600 people are still missing as the death toll from massive mudslides in Sierra Leone’s capital is certain to rise.

Bodies have begun washing up on a beach in Freetown. Workers continue to search for an untold number of people buried in their homes.

Authorities say more than 300 people were killed in and around Freetown on Monday following heavy rains. Many were trapped under tons of mud as they slept. </s> CHICO, Calif. (Reuters) - Remains have been recovered from at least 42 people killed by a devastating wildfire that largely incinerated the town of Paradise in northern California, making it the deadliest in U.S. history, the Butte County sheriff said on Monday.

The latest death toll was announced after authorities located the remains of 13 additional victims from the Camp Fire, which also ranks as the most destructive on record in California, having leveled more than 7,100 homes and other buildings since it erupted on Thursday, officials said.

The number of people killed by the fire had stood at 29 earlier in the day. </s> PARADISE, Calif. (Reuters) - Search teams have recovered remains of 42 people killed by a fierce wildfire that largely incinerated the town of Paradise in northern California, marking the greatest loss of life from a wild land blaze in state history, authorities said on Monday.

The latest death toll, up from 29 tallied over the weekend, was announced by Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea at an evening news conference in the nearby city of Chico after authorities found the bodies of 13 more victims of the devastating blaze dubbed the Camp Fire.

The fire already ranked as the most destructive on record in California in terms of property losses, having consumed more than 7,100 homes and other structures since igniting on Thursday in Butte County’s Sierra foothills, about 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco.

Honea said 228 people were officially listed as missing in the disaster, but added that his office had received requests to check on the wellbeing of more than 1,500 people who had not been heard from by loved ones. Of those cases, 231 individuals had turned up safe, he said.

Authorities made clear, however, that they are bracing for the number of fatalities to climb.

In addition to 13 coroner-led recovery teams working in the fire zone, 150 search-and-recovery personnel were due to arrive on Tuesday, Honea said.

The sheriff said he also has requested three portable morgue teams from the U.S. military, a “disaster mortuary” crew and an unspecified number of cadaver dog units to assist in the search for human remains. Three groups of forensic anthropologists were also called in to help, he said.

The bulk of the destruction and loss of life occurred in and around the town of Paradise, where flames reduced most of the buildings to ash and rubble on Thursday night, just hours after the blaze erupted. Some 52,000 people remained under evacuation orders, the sheriff said.

The 42 confirmed fatalities marked the highest death toll in history from a single California wildfire, Honea said, far surpassing the previous record of 29 lives lost in 1933 from the Griffith Park blaze in Los Angeles.

Authorities reported two more people perished over the weekend in a separate blaze, dubbed the Woolsey Fire, that has destroyed 435 structures and displaced some 200,000 people in the mountains and foothills near Southern California’s Malibu coast, west of Los Angeles.

President Donald Trump, who drew criticism over the weekend for erroneously blaming the fires on “gross mismanagement” of forests, approved California Governor Jerry Brown’s request for a major disaster declaration on Monday. The measure hastens availability of federal emergency aid to fire-stricken regions of the state.

The fires have spread with an erratic intensity that has strained firefighting resources while catching many residents by surprise.

The bodies of some of the Camp Fire victims were found in burned-out wreckage of vehicles that were overrun by walls of fire as evacuees tried to flee, only to be trapped in deadly knots of traffic gridlock on Thursday night.

“It was very scary,” Mayor Jody Jones recounted of her family’s own harrowing escape from their home as fire raged all around them.

“It took a long time to get out. There was fire on both sides of the car. You could feel the heat coming in through the car,” she told CNN. Jones said her family is now living in their mobile home parked in a vacant lot.

More than 15,000 structures were threatened by the Camp Fire on Monday in an area so thick with smoke that visibility was reduced in some places to less than half a mile.

Perilous winds that stoked the fire through drought-parched brush and chaparral abated on Saturday, giving firefighters a chance to gain some ground against the flames.

High winds returned on Sunday but fell again Monday morning, with crews managing to carve containment lines around 30 percent of the Camp Fire perimeter, an area encompassing 117,000 acres of scorched, smoldering terrain.

The Woolsey Fire has blackened nearly 94,000 acres and was also 30 percent contained as of Monday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).

Winds of up to 40 miles per hour (64 km per hour) were expected to continue in Southern California through Tuesday, heightening the risk of fresh blazes ignited by scattered embers. CalFire said 57,000 structures were still in harm’s way from the Woolsey Fire.

Forecasts called for winds to pick up again Monday night in Butte County, though with less force than previous days, National Weather Service meteorologist Aviva Braun told reporters.

Nearly 9,000 firefighters, many from out of state, were battling to suppress the Camp Fire, the Woolsey Fire and a handful of smaller Southern California blazes, backed by squadrons of water-dropping helicopters and airplane tankers.

Some evacuees in Malibu, a seaside community whose residents include a number of Hollywood celebrities, were allowed to return home but were left without power or cellphone service.

California has endured two of the worst wildfire seasons in its history over the past couple of years, a situation experts attribute in large part to prolonged drought across much of the Western United States.

Forty-six people died in a flurry of wind-driven wildfires that swept northern California’s wine country in October of last year, destroying some 8,900 homes and other structures. The worst of those blazes, dubbed the Tubbs Fire, was blamed for 22 of the deaths.
Two more bodies are found in Paradise and one in nearby Magalia, raising the death toll to 85. Another 249 people are still missing.