Dead in cars, homes: Northern California fire toll at 42
At least 42 people were confirmed dead in the wildfire that turned Northern California's Paradise town and outlying areas into hell on earth. The dead were found in burned-out cars, in the smoldering ruins of their homes, or next to their vehicles, apparently overcome by smoke and flames before they could jump in behind the wheel and escape. The search for bodies continued yesterday.
Devastating fire had burnt bodies to an unidentifiable state
Hundreds of people were unaccounted for, four days after the fire swept over the town of 27,000, with flames so fierce that authorities brought in a mobile DNA lab and forensic anthropologists to help identify the dead. In some cases, the dead were only charred fragments of bone, so small that coroner's investigators used a wire basket to sift and sort them.
Friends, family members waiting for information about missing kin
As the search for victims continued, friends and relatives of the missing called hospitals, police, shelters inquiring about their kin. Tad Teays awaited word on his 90-year-old dementia-stricken mother while Darlina Duarte was desperate for information about her half-brother, a diabetic who had lost his legs. Similarly, Barbara Hall tried to find out whether her aunt made it out alive from her retirement community.
This Canadian used Twitter to ask about her Paradise-based kin
Megan James, of Newfoundland, Canada, searched via Twitter from the other side of the continent for information about her aunt and uncle, whose house in Paradise burned down but vehicles were still there. Yesterday, she asked on Twitter for someone to take over the posts, saying she's "so emotionally and mentally exhausted". "I need to sleep and cry," James said, adding, "Just PRAY. Please."
Blaze also killed two in star-studded Malibu, Southern California
The blaze was part of an outbreak of wildfires on both ends of the state. Together, they were blamed for 44 deaths, including two in celebrity-studded Malibu in Southern California, where firefighters appeared to be gaining ground against a roughly 370-square-kilometer blaze.
Aftermath: Authorities reopen US 101, people searching for their homes
Some of the thousands of people, who were forced from their homes by the blaze, were allowed to return, and authorities reopened US 101, a major freeway through the fire zone in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Celebrities based in Malibu and mobile-home dwellers of nearby mountains were slowly learning whether their homes had been spared or reduced to ash.
Authorities say fire 25% contained; winds expected to weaken
Over 8,000 firefighters, statewide, were battling wildfires that destroyed more than 7,000 structures. In Northern California, fire crews were still fighting the blaze that obliterated Paradise contended with wind gusts up to 64kph overnight and flames jumping 300ft across Lake Oroville. The fire had grown to 177 square miles (303 square kilometers) and was 25% contained, authorities said. Winds were expected to weaken yesterday.
After massacre, some sense of order returning to Paradise
But there were tiny signs of some sense of order returning to Paradise and also anonymous gestures meant to rally the spirits of firefighters who have worked in a burned-over wasteland for days. Large American flags stuck into the ground lined both sides of the road at the town limits, and temporary stop signs appeared overnight at major intersections.
