Wildfires cause havoc in California

SONOMA: They are trying to find lost loved ones, to sift through the remains of lost homes, to count, identify and mourn the dozens of dead – all while the fires rage on.

The communities of Northern California were preparing for another day under siege by destruction and danger amid the deadliest week of wildfires the state has ever seen.

The death toll had risen to an unprecedented 31 and was expected to keep rising. “We had series of state-wide fires in 2003, 2007, 2008 that didn’t have anything close to this death count,” said Daniel Berlant, a deputy director with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Hundreds more injured or missing.

“We are not even close to being out of this emergency,” said Mark Ghilarducci, director of the state’s Office of Emergency Services.

Choking smoke hung thick in the fire counties and drifted all over the San Francisco Bay Area, where masks to filter were the fumes were becoming a regular uniform and the sunsets were blood-red from the haze.

“It’s acrid now,” said Wayne Petersen in Sonoma. “I’m wearing the mask because I’ve been here two or three days now. I live here and it’s starting to really affect my breathing and lungs so I’m wearing the mask. It’s helping.”

The fires drove hundreds of evacuees northward to beaches, some sleeping on the sand on the first night of the blazes.

Since then, authorities have brought tents and sleeping bags and opened public buildings and restaurants to house people seeking refuge in the safety and clean air of the coastal community of Bodega Bay.

“The kids were scared,” said Patricia Ginochio, who opened her seaside restaurant for about 300 people to sleep. California Highway Patrol Officer Quintin Shawk took relatives and other evacuees into his home and office, as did many others.

“It’s like a refugee camp,” Shawk said.

Teams with cadaver dogs began a grim search on Thursday for more dead, resorting in some cases to serial numbers stamped on medical implants to identify remains in charred ruins.

Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano said officials were still investigating hundreds of reports of missing people and that recovery teams would begin conducting “targeted searches” for specific residents at their last known addresses.

“We have found bodies almost completely intact and we have found bodies that were nothing more than ash and bones,” said the sheriff on Thursday.

At least 3 500 homes and businesses have been destroyed and an estimated 25 000 people forced to flee.

Fire officials were investigating whether downed power lines or other utility failures could have sparked the fires. – AP

PICTURE: AP A firefighter surveys a building destroyed by a wildfire on Thursday near Calistoga, California.

PICTURE: EPA People displaced by the fires pick up supplies and clothes that were donated by Piner Cafe and the community in Santa Rosa, California.