‘Devil winds’ fan flames
> California blaze death toll rises to 31 with 228 missing
LOS ANGELES: The death toll from wildfires raging in California rose to 31 on Sunday after six more people were found killed in what was poised to become the deadliest wildfire in state history.
Officials said the bodies of five people were found in burned-out homes and the sixth was found in a vehicle in northern California’s Camp Fire, Butte County sheriff Kory Honea told reporters on Sunday evening.
Some 228 people are still unaccounted for, Honea said, while another 137 people have been located after friends or relatives reported being unable to contact them.
The so-called Camp Fire in the northern part of the state has claimed at least 29 lives since it broke out on Thursday.
Hundreds of miles to the south, at least two people have died in the Woolsey Fire threatening the wealthy beach community of Malibu, near Los Angeles.
Looting was reported in the southern fire area and arrests were made, police said.
It has been more than 210 days since the area received half an inch or more of rain, making it easy for spot fires to spread to fresh patches of tinder-dry vegetation, fire officials said.
“We are entering a new normal,” said Ventura County fire chief Mark Lorenzen, noting that California’s fires in 2018 grow far more quickly than they did even 10 years ago.
“The rate of spread is exponentially more than it used to be,” he said.
Winds of up to 64kph were forecast to blow in the north and gusts of up to 113kph, the so-called Santa Ana “devil winds”, were expected in Southern California.
The hot dry winds whipped up the flames and heightened the urgency of evacuation orders, officials said.
Several officials urged residents to heed evacuation orders.
“Winds are already blowing,” Los Angeles County Fire Department chief Daryl Osby said.
“They are going to blow for the next three days. Your house can be rebuilt but you can’t bring your life back.”
Crews pushed forward to achieve 25% containment of the Camp Fire, which had burned 111,000 acres at the edge of the Plumas National Forest.
In southern California, where the Woolsey Fire scorched 85,000 acres, the blaze was only 10% contained. – Reuters