Paradise lost in fatal US blazes

MACABRE: SHERIFFS WORKING TO FIND BODIES

‘Camp Fire’ has so far claimed 31 lives, razed 6 400 buildings.

Concow

Asmall team searching for victims of one of California’s deadliest fires happen upon a man lying face down between two ash-covered pickup trucks. His body and clothes seem intact, aside from hideous burns around his calves.

“You never get used to it. You have to face reality,” says one of a trio of sheriff deputies searching for the dead in the wreckage around the town of Paradise.

“Everybody has its own way to cope with it,” he mused.

“Mine? Better leave that unanswered.”

The “Camp Fire” in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada moun- tains north of the state capital Sacramento has claimed 31 lives, razed 6 400 buildings and effectively wiped Paradise off the map.

For the past days, this team – one deputy from Butte County and two from neighbouring Yuba County – has scoured the town and the many nearby communities nestled in this hilly area searching for human remains.

On Sunday, the team drove several kilometres up a steep, rocky road keeping an eye out for possible victims.

They refused to give their names and had little to say as they focused on their macabre task. Scores of people have gone missing since the wildfire broke out on Thursday and swept through the area.

Some survivors may be huddled in a hotel or at a shelter, unable to communicate with loved ones because the fire has destroyed area cellphone towers. Others – like the man face down on the hills overlooking Lake Concow – were caught by the fast-moving flames as they tried to escape the inferno.

Was he overcome by smoke? Did he live at the nearby farm, of which nothing survived except for scorched marijuana plants inside the charred shell of a greenhouse?

“Far too early to tell”, said one of the Yuba County deputies.

The deputies took pictures, noted GPS coordinates, and picked up documents inside the cars for identification.

They lifted the corpse, placed it in a body bag, and loaded it into a hearse that had followed them from Paradise.

Without wasting time, they resumed their search for fire victims. Dozens of cars and trucks, some seemingly intact, litter the sides of roads in the area.

The hearse blows a tire. “We’re done,” says one deputy. “We’ll get back to it tomorrow.” –