Searchers comb rubble for wildfire survivors
Blaze consumes 11,862 structures; smoke chokes area.
The death toll in the Paradise fire in Northern California rose to 71, and the list of missing jumped to more than 1,000 people.
CHICO, CALIF. — An army of searchers moved through the rubble of Paradise in a desperate search Friday to find more victims of California’s worst fire on record as the number of people missing skyrocketed.
The death toll from the devastating Camp fire rose to 71 Friday, while the number of people reported missing jumped to more than 1,000, authorities said.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told reporters at a Thursday afternoon news conference that search crews had recovered eight more bodies in the burn area.
The number of people unaccounted for rose to 1,011, up from 631 on Thursday evening, after authorities combed through additional 911 calls, emails and other reports generated at the peak of the chaotic evacuation.
Honea said that number may include some people who are counted twice or others who may not know they were reported missing.
The Camp fire is by far the worst wildfire in recorded California history. By Thursday evening, the blaze had chewed through 141,000 acres and 11,862 structures, destroying an entire town in hours. Officials said it could take weeks to complete the search for victims. Thousands of survivors are without homes, living in shelters and tent cities.
Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted in some areas and reduced to warnings as fire crews on the front lines boosted containment to 40 percent.
“What that means is, if conditions change and fire begins to threaten that area, you have to be ready to go,” Honea said.
The fire is also causing a major public health problem as smoke choked huge swaths of Northern California, including Sacramento and the Bay Area. Dozens of schools across the region canceled classes as authorities urged residents to remain indoors.
At a town hall meeting in Chico late Thursday, Denise Davis showed up to reconnect with her community. There, the 53-year-old Paradise resident saw a neighbor whom she last saw in a driveway carrying someone else’s dog during evacuations.
This community, she said, is why she’s coming back.
“That’s why we’re going to rebuild,” she said.
Jim Broshears, the town’s emergency operations center coordinator, told the audience of more than 100 that the town will rebuild.
“We’re determined to start rebuilding the community — from you, up,” he said. “You are the foundation of the community.”
But Mark Brown, the deputy incident commander for the fire, said the breadth of the devastation was like nothing he’d ever seen.
“It’s at the scale of unprecedented magnitude,” he said.
In Southern California, fire officials were optimistic Thursday that improved weather might help them get the upper hand against the devastating Woolsey fire. The blaze has charred 98,362 acres and claimed three lives in Los Angeles and Ventura counties since it broke out last week. More than 500 structures have been destroyed.
Firefighters stopped the fire’s expansion and increased containment to 62 percent by Thursday evening. The gains came as strong winds that battered the region for three days finally diminished — a welcome development for those on the front lines.
“I think we’re all hoping today will be a turning point for us in this fight,” said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Chris Anthony. “But we’re not ramping down. This is a huge fire, and there’s still a lot of containment that needs to be done.”
Authorities are urging residents to stay cautious as the rainy season approaches and to prepare for potential mudflows in burned-out areas. Rain could arrive in the Los Angeles area late next week, according to extended weather forecasts. But meteorologists with the National Weather Service said it’s too soon to tell how much — if any — rain to expect.
Across Northern California on Friday, people were dealing with unhealthy air quality from the fire.
Unrelenting smoke smothers everything in Chico. The acidic and sour haze hangs on hair, skin and clothes. Some evacuees don’t have access to showers and clean towels, and the smoke from the deadly Camp fire feels impossible to escape.
Hair is like a sponge and absorbs the smoke, said Holly Little, owner of Bleached Salon. The small salon on Manzanita Avenue is one of several offering free hair washes, blowouts and more to evacuees.
At the nail counter, Paradise resident Laina Floraday was getting a free manicure Friday after finding out about the service from a friend.
Floraday fled the Camp fire with her two young children, including one who has special needs, and her three dogs. Her house, her childhood home that she bought, was destroyed. Her husband spent four hours trapped near Pentz Road Market and eventually got out.
“It was traumatizing,” Floraday said.