List of missing in fire includes many in 80s, 90s

CHICO, CALIF. • 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.

As the names were made public late Tuesday, additional crews joined the search, and the statewide death toll climbed to at least 56, while another 130 people are missing. Authorities say the blaze has grown in size to about 557 square kilometres and has destroyed nearly 9,000 homes.

“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.”

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 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 neighbourhood in Magalia, just north of Paradise, which was consumed by flames last week.

Bechtold said he spoke with the sheriff ’s office Wednesday, 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.

Greg Gibson was one of the people searching the message board Tuesday, hoping to find information about his neighbours. They’ve been reported missing, but he does not know if they tried to escape or hesitated too long before fleeing Paradise.

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