Grim toll mounts in wildfires disaster

SANTA ROSA, CALIF. • The horrific scale of death and destruction is coming into focus, even as wildfires continue to rage throughout Northern California.

Thirty-four confirmed dead, many of them elderly. One victim was 14 years old. Hundreds still missing on Friday. Thousands of homes and businesses destroyed, including whole neighbourhoods reduced to smouldering rubble.

“We all have suffered a trauma here, and we’re going to be a long time in recovering from this incident,” Santa Rosa Mayor Chris Coursey told reporters.

As authorities continue assessing the damage from the most devastating spate of wildfires to strike the state in modern history, the blazes are still burning.

Firefighters have made some gains with several fires that are no longer expected to grow. But 17 fires, including the deadliest in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties, were still uncontained Friday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, sustained the most damage, with 18 people confirmed dead and 256 still reported missing. Nearly 3,000 homes have been destroyed in Santa Rosa, the county seat and gateway to the wine-tourism industry.

Among those homes was the one where the late Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts gang, had lived for decades with his wife, Jean, who safely escaped.

“I am devastated by the loss of the home I shared with Sparky for 25 years,” Schulz said, “the memories of which filled me with happiness every day.”

The split-level hillside home was built in the 1970s and had housed a drawing table that belonged to the beloved cartoonist, who died in 2000, as well as some Peanuts keepsakes.

Officials say this is now the deadliest week of wildfires in state history. The death toll is certain to rise as authorities — some accompanied by cadaver dogs — continue to explore the wreckage.

Taken together, the disastrous blazes — more than 20 in all since Sunday, including at least six in Sonoma County — have killed more people than any other California wildfire on record.

The majority of the victims who have been identified were elderly, except for one: A 14-year-old who was found near his family’s home in Mendocino County.

Of 1,308 missing-person reports in Sonoma County, 1,052 had been found safe by Friday afternoon, said Robert Giordano, the sheriff.

The whereabouts of the more than 250 missing were still unknown, although it is possible that a number of them were found but not yet reported to authorities.

Others may be out of touch because of power outages and downed cell towers.