PARADISE, Nov 11 — The charred remains of 14 more victims have been found in and around a Northern California town overrun by flames from a massive wildfire, officials said yesterday, raising the death toll to 23.
The bodies were recovered in and around Paradise, California, a mountain community some 145 km north of Sacramento left devastated by the Camp Fire, California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Scott Maclean said.
Maclean said no details were immediately available about the circumstances of the deaths and that the bodies' badly burned condition would make identification difficult.
The Camp Fire burned down more than 6,700 homes and businesses in Paradise, more structures than any other California wildfire on record.
Several of the victims discovered earlier this week were found in or near burned out cars, police have said. The flames descended on the mountain community so fast that many people were forced to abandon their vehicles and run for their lives down the sole road through the mountain town.
An additional 35 people had been reported missing and three firefighters had been injured.
As of yesterday afternoon the Camp Fire had blackened more than 40,500 hectares of forest land. Crews had cut containment lines around about 20 percent of the blaze.
About800 km to the south, the Woolsey Fire burning in the foothills above Malibu doubled in size overnight, threatening thousands of homes after triggering mandatory evacuation orders for a quarter million people in the oceanside city as well as other communities in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
The fire has destroyed "a lot of homes," with a full count still under way, and has now charred more than 70,000 acres, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said.
“Our firefighters have been facing some extreme, tough fire conditions that they said that they've never seen in their lives,” Osby said at a news conference.
He said crews hoped to take advantage of a lull yesterday in the fierce Santa Ana winds driving the flames, but that gusts could return today.
All 13,000 residents of Malibu, which is 48km west of downtown Los Angeles, were told to get out on Friday.
The bodies of two people were discovered in Malibu but it was too early to determine if they died from fire or another cause, Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department officials said.
Firefighters have been unable to build any containment lines around the Woolsey Fire, but officials said they hoped to take advantage of a lull in winds yesteray to make progress.
The Woolsey Fire broke out on Thursday in Ventura County near Los Angeles and quickly jumped the 101 Freeway, a major north-south artery, in several places. — Reuters
