At least 44 people have died in the Camp fire in northern California, making it the deadliest blaze in the state’s history. The number of death rose after five bodies were found inside houses in the burned-out town of Paradise, while another was discovered in a nearby car. But about 200 people are still not found, meaning the number of death could rise.
Butte County Sheriff Cory Honea said the fire was so terrible in some neighborhoods that it was very difficult to determine whether there may be human remains or not there. “In some cases, the only remains we are able to recover are bones,” Honea said.
One of the fire’s victims was a woman whose body was found in bed in a burned-out house in Concow, near Paradise. Ellen Walker, who was in her early 70s, was home alone when the fire struck on Thursday, according to Nancy Breeding, a family friend.
The 44 deaths matched the deadliest single fire on record, a 1933 blaze in Griffith Park in Los Angeles. Forty-four people were killed last year after flames struck northern Californian wine country, though that was in several different fires. More than 5,000 homes were destroyed.
“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.” Ten search and recovery teams are working in Paradise—a town of 27,000 that was largely burned to the ground on Thursday. Authorities called in a mobile DNA lab to help identify victims of the most destructive wildfire.
People looking for friends or relatives called evacuation centers, hospitals, police and the coroner’s office. Officials and relatives held out hope that many of those were safe and simply had no cellphones or other ways to contact loved ones. The government set up some missing-persons call centers to help connect people.
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