California calls in DNA lab to identify wildfire victims
paradise (california) — Authorities called in a mobile DNA lab and anthropologists to help identify the dead as the search went on for victims of the most destructive wildfire in California history. The death toll stood at 23 on Sunday and appeared likely to climb.
With the town of Paradise, population 27,000, reduced to a smoking ruin and the fire still raging in surrounding communities, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the Northern California county was bringing in a fifth search and recovery team.
An anthropology team from California State University at Chico was also assisting, because in some cases “the only remains we are able to find are bones or bone fragments”.
The department compiled a list of 110 people unaccounted for, but officials held out hope that many were safe but had no cellphones or some other way to contact loved ones. —
paradise — Sheriff ’s investigators have begun the agonizing task of scouring through the wreckage of California’s most destructive fire on record in search of the dead. The death toll had reached 23, but it seemed likely to climb.
With the entire town of Paradise wiped out and the fire still raging furiously in surrounding communities, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the county was bringing in a fifth search and recovery team. An anthropology team from California State University, Chico was also assisting, because in some cases “the only remains we are able to find are bones or bone fragments.”
“This weighs heavy on all of us,” Honea said. “Myself and especially those staff members who are out there doing what is important work but certainly difficult work.”
The victims have not been identified, but the department has a roster of 110 people believed missing. Officials hope many of the elderly on the list simply are elsewhere without cellphones or away to contact loved ones. Honea said the agency was also bringing in a mobile DNA lab and encouraged people with missing relatives to submit samples to aid in the identification process.
The death toll made the Camp Fire the third-deadliest on record in the state, another statistic for a blaze now logged at 425 square kilometres that has cost at least $8.1 million to fight so far, said Steve Kaufmann, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Entire neighbourhoods were levelled, destroying more than 6,700 buildings, almost all of them homes, and the business district was destroyed by a blaze that threatened to explode again with
eric england looks at a friend’s vehicle on Pearson road in Paradise, california. —
the same fury that largely incinerated the foothill town.
More firefighters headed to the area, with wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour expected through on Monday, raising the risk of conditions similar to those when the fire started on Thursday, said Alex Hoon with the National Weather Service.
Two people were also found dead in Southern California , bringing the total number of fatalities statewide to 25 as the fires tore through Malibu mansions and suburban homes. —