Residents of U.S. town levelled by fire can go home

PARADISE, CALIF. — Some residents of a northern California town devastated by a deadly wildfire will be allowed to return home Wednesday, nearly a month after the blaze swept through the parched Sierra Nevada foothills, authorities said.

Evacuation orders were being lifted for all neighbourhoods in the eastern side of the town of Paradise, where the fire that started Nov. 8 destroyed about 14,000 homes and killed at least 85 people, the Butte County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.

There will be limited access to residents on Wednesday, but the same neighbourhoods will be opened to anyone on Thursday.

More than 50,000 people in the town and two neighbouring communities were forced to flee the wind-driven flames that charred 622 square kilometres.

Authorities said 11 people are still unaccounted for in the deadliest U.S. wildfire in at least a century. The communities will have very limited services for the immediate future, and authorities urged residents to bring food, water and fuel for their vehicles with them.

Residents were also warned they should not move back into homes until ash and hazardous waste have been cleared away. And they were told that rain could increase risks in fire-impacted areas for flash floods and mud and debris flows. The ferocious fire trapped people in cars and surrounded the town’s hospital — forcing the evacuation of about 60 patients.