Wildfire toll rises to 76 as Trump visits
Search on for 1,276 missing; 10,000 homes destroyed
PARADISE, California — The number of people missing after California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire jumped on Saturday to 1,276, despite authorities locating hundreds of people who scattered when the Camp Fire tore through the mountain town of Paradise.
Forensic recovery teams sifting through the charred wreckage recovered the remains of five more victims, bringing the death toll to at least 76, authorities said. Sixtythree of them have been tentatively identified, pending DNA confirmation.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea pleaded with fire evacuees to check the roster of people reported as unreachable by family and friends and to call in if they are safe. Deputies have located hundreds of people to date, but the overall number keeps growing because officials are adding names, including those reported as missing during the disaster’s chaotic early hours, Honea said.
“It’s really very important for you to take a look at the list and call us if you’re on the list,” he said.
The deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history, the so-called Camp Fire, has now claimed 76 lives after authorities on Saturday confirmed five more victims.
US President Donald Trump toured the area on Saturday, joined by California’s outgoing and incoming governors. He also visited Southern California, where firefighters were making progress on a wildfire that tore through communities west of Los Angeles from Thousand Oaks to Malibu, killing three people.
“This is very sad,” Trump said after surveying the remains of Paradise, where nearly the only people out on the road were emergency services workers, surrounded by the twisted remains of a community incinerated by the flames.
“They’re telling me this is not as bad as some areas; some areas are even beyond this, they’re just charred,” he added after looking at a street lined with melted cars, tree stumps and the foundations of wrecked houses.
Firefighters are racing to get ahead of strong winds and low humidity expected overnight and into Sunday afternoon. Rain was forecast for midweek, which could help firefighters but also complicate the search for remains.
Northern California’s Camp Fire has destroyed nearly 10,000 homes and torched 600 square kilometers. It is 55 percent contained.
The fire zone in Northern California is to some extent Trump country, and that enthusiasm was on display as dozens of people cheered and waved flags as his motorcade went by.
Kevin Cory, a wildfire evacuee who lost his home in Paradise, praised Trump for coming to a state that is often at odds with the White House.
“I think that California’s been really horrible to him and the fights. I mean they’re suing him,” he said. “It’s back and forth between the state and the feds. It’s not right.”
But for the most part, survivors, some who had barely escaped and no longer had homes, were too busy packing up what little they had left or seeking help to pay much attention to the president’s visit.
At an unofficial encampment next to a Walmart store in Chico, many were packing up to find another temporary place to sleep after being told to leave by Sunday.
That included Maggie Missere-Crowder, who said she was focused on getting her tent and boxes of food into her pickup truck.
Missere-Crowder, 61, and her husband had fled their home in Magalia, a community near Paradise that also was devastated, and now planned to go to a shelter in Yuba City, about an hour’s drive from the Walmart.
She said she was angry about Trump’s tweet last week blaming forest mismanagement for the Nov 8 fire, a sentiment he evoked in his visit that has stirred resentment among survivors.
“Like we’ve done it on purpose. It’s like a slap in the face,” Missere-Crowder said.