Camp Fire number of missing jumps to 631; deaths at 63

LOS ANGELES — The death toll from the devastating Camp fire in Northern California jumped to 63 on Thursday as search crews recovered seven more bodies in the burn area.

The number of people unaccounted for jumped dramatically to 631 people, up from 130 on Wednesday evening.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told reporters that crews found three bodies in Magalia, three in Paradise and one in Concow. One body in Paradise was found in a car that had been flipped on its side.

The blaze has scorched 141,000 acres and destroyed 11,862 structures. It was 40 percent contained as of Wednesday evening.

The Paradise fire is now by far the worst fire in California history, destroying an entire town in a matter of hours.

Officials said it could take weeks to complete the search for victims,

Thousands of survivors are now without homes and living in shelters and tent

cities.

The fire is also causing a major public health problem as smoke choked huge swaths of Northern California, including Sacramento and the Bay Area.

It has pushed the region's air quality into the unhealthy zone on the Environmental Protection Agency's index. Many schools have been closed.

Beverly Jean Sparks and Wallace Sparks are on the list, but are not missing, according to their grandson, Patrick Sparks, who told The Sacramento Bee that they evacuated Thursday to a nearby family cabin.

“Knowing that they’re on the list and knowing that they’re not missing ... I’m hoping that a lot of people are in the same boat because that means there are a lot less people dead,” he said.

The whereabouts of others remained a mystery as 461 search and rescue workers, including 50 from the state National Guard, continue to sift through ash and wreckage looking for human remains. Honea said the teams are working with 22 cadaver dogs as they try to deal with the deadliest and most destructive fire in state history.

Ryan Lillis, Alexandra Yoon-Hendricks, Molly Sullivan and Sam Stanton of the Sacramento Bee contributed to this report.

CAROLYN COLE/LOS ANGELES TIMES An ariel view of Paradise off of Clark Road on Thursday. The Camp Fire has burned more than 7,000 structures in Paradise.