PARADISE: Forensic recovery teams searched for more victims in the charred wreckage of the northern California town of Paradise on Saturday as the number of people listed as missing in the state’s deadliest wildfire topped 1,000.

Remains of at least 71 people have been recovered in and around the small Sierra foothills town 280 km north of San Francisco. It was home to nearly 27,000 residents before it was largely incinerated by the blaze on the night of Nov 8.

The disaster already ranks among the deadliest US wildfires since the turn of the last century. Eighty-seven people perished in the Big Burn firestorm that swept the Northern Ro­­ckies in August of 1910. Minnesota’s Cloquet Fire in October of 1918 killed 450 people.

Authorities attribute the high death toll from the blaze — dubbed “Camp Fire” — partly to the speed with which flames raced through the town with little warning, driven by howling winds and fuelled by drought-desiccated scrub and trees.

Besides the toll on human life, property losses from the blaze make it the most destructive in California history, posing the additional challenge of providing long-term shelter for many thousands of displaced residents.

With more than 9,700 homes up in smoke, many refugees have taken up temporary residence with friends and family, while others have pitched tents or were camping out of their vehicles.

At least 1,100 evacuees were being housed in 14 emergency shelters set up in churches, schools and community centres around the region, with a total of more than 47,000 people remaining under evacuation orders, authorities said. Several shelters are full and, although authorities say they still have space for everyone, hundreds of people have been camping in tents and cars in the area.

Search teams with cadaver dogs have combed through rubble-strewn expanses of burned-out neighbourhoods looking for bodies.

On Friday night, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the remains of eight more fire victims were recovered during the day, bringing the death toll to 71. Honea said the total roster of people unaccounted for had swelled to 1,011 — up from the 630 names posted Thursday night and well more than triple the number counted as missing on Thursday afternoon.

“This is a dynamic list,” Honea told reporters, saying it was compiled from “raw data” that likely included some duplications or multiple spellings of names.

Weather conditions have since turned more to firefighters’ favour, though strong, gusty winds and lower humidity were expected to return late Saturday through early Sunday, ahead of rain showers forecast for mid-week.

The outbreak of Camp Fire coincided with a series of smaller blazes in Southern California, most notably the Woolsey Fire, which is linked to three fatalities and has destroyed at least 500 structures near the Malibu coast west of Los Angeles. It was 78 per cent contained on Friday night.

The precise causes of the Camp and Woolsey Fires were under investigation, but electric utilities have reported equipment problems in the vicinity of both blazes around the time they erupted.

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2018