The number of people killed by a massive blaze in northern California rose to 42 on Monday, making it the deadliest wildfire in the history of the state.

Thousands of firefighters spent a fifth day digging battle lines to contain the "Camp Fire" in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains north of Sacramento, while search teams were on a grim mission to recover the dead.

"As of today, an additional 13 human remains have been recovered, which brings the total number to 42," Sheriff Kory Honea told a news conference.

The blaze is "the deadliest wildland fire in California history," Honea said.

Although it is difficult to be certain due to inconsistencies in record keeping and categorization, the Camp Fire appears to deadliest American wildfire in a century - since the Cloquet Fire killed an estimated 1,000 people in Minnesota in 1918.

The Camp Fire is the largest of several infernos that have sent a quarter of a million people fleeing their homes across the tinder-dry state, with winds of up to 60 miles (100 kilometers) per hour fanning the fast-moving flames.

In addition to the historic loss of life, the Camp Fire blaze is also more destructive than any other on record, having razed 6,500 homes in the town of Paradise, effectively wiping it off the map.

More than 5,100 firefighters from as far as the states of Washington and Texas have been working to halt the advance of the inferno as "mass casualty" search teams backed by anthropologists and a DNA lab pick through the charred ruins to identify remains - sometimes reduced to no more than shards of bone.

At least 44 people have died in fire zones in north and south California, where acrid smoke has blanketed the sky for miles, the sun barely visible.

US President Donald Trump "declared that a major disaster exists in the state of California and ordered federal aid to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by wildfires," the White House said in a statement.

The move makes aid available to the state's fire-hit Butte, Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

On the ground, cars caught in the flames have been reduced to scorched metal skeletons, while piles of debris smolder where houses once stood, an occasional brick wall or chimney remaining.

Glenn Simmons, 64, told AFP in the nearby town of Chico that he had been sleeping in his car since Thursday, unable to find a space in a shelter.

"I was planning on maybe moving out of state, or into southern California... Everything is burned up. I have my clothes and I have a backpack, and that's pretty much it," he said.

The Camp Fire has reduced around 17 square miles (45 square kilometers) of Butte County's forested hills mostly to charred wasteland - an area which hasn't seen rainfall of more than half an inch (one centimeter) in more than 30 weeks.

It is currently 25 percent contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.

Three firefighters have been injured in the effort to quell the blaze's advance.

At the southern end of the state, another three firefighters have been injured battling the Woolsey Fire, which has devoured mansions and mobile homes alike in the coastal celebrity resort of Malibu.

The blaze is similar in size to the Camp Fire but has been much less destructive, and the death toll has been limited to two victims found in a vehicle on a private driveway.

The number of dead in a wildfire raging in California rose to 29 on Sunday, matching the deadliest in the state's history as recovery teams found six more bodies in the grim search through the wreckage.

The "Camp Fire" - in the northern foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains - is the largest and most destructive of several infernos that have sent 250,000 people fleeing their homes across the tinder-dry state, razing 6,400 homes in the town of Paradise and effectively wiping it off the map.

"Today, an additional six human remains were recovered, which brings our current total to 29," Sheriff Kory Honea told a news conference at the end of the fourth day in the struggle to contain the blaze, adding that all were found in Paradise.

In fire zones in north and south California - where a total of at least 31 people have died - acrid smoke blanketed the sky for miles, the sun barely visible. On the ground, cars caught in the flames were reduced to mangled metal carcasses, while power lines were gnawed by the flames.

An AFP journalist saw recovery team workers discover bag and drive away two bodies in the Paradise area on Sunday, and the death toll looked set to rise further with scores more people still unaccounted for.

The Camp Fire has the grisly distinction of matching the 1933 Griffith Park disaster in Los Angeles - until now the single deadliest wildfire on record, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).

At the southern end of the state, where the "Woolsey Fire" is threatening mansions and mobile homes alike in the coastal celebrity redoubt of Malibu, the death toll has been limited to two victims found in a vehicle on a private driveway.

Los Angeles County Fire chief Daryl Osby told reporters of his gratitude to firefighters "who've done all they could do save tens of thousands of people's lives and thousands of people's homes."

Rescuers also spent hours on Saturday collecting bodies around Paradise and placing them in a black hearse.

Body parts were transported by bucket, while intact remains were carried in body bags.

At the Holly Hills Mobile Estate the mobile homes had been reduced to smoldering piles of debris.

Yellow police tape delineated spots that were tagged "Doe C" and "Doe D," a grim marker of the bodies that had recently been removed.

Locals fled the danger, but police told AFP some farmers returned to check on their cattle.

Fanned by strong winds, the "Camp Fire" has scorched 111,000 acres (45,000 hectares) and is 25 percent contained, Cal Fire said.

So far, three of the more than 4,000 firefighters deployed have been injured.

They estimate they will need three weeks to fully contain the blaze.

Evacuation orders have been issued to more than a quarter of a million people across California, with authorities urging residents not to ignore warnings to flee.

"This is not the new normal, this is the new abnormal. And this new abnormal will continue, certainly in the next 10 to 15 to 20 years," California Governor Jerry Brown told a news conference on Sunday.

"Unfortunately, the best science is telling us that the dryness, warmth, drought, all those things, they're going to intensify," he said.

Smoldering debris, skeletons of cars with melted glass, a cat with a singed, soot-covered coat: ravaged by the most destructive fire to hit California, Paradise is now a ghost town.

"It's devastation, total devastation, it's pretty incredible something like this occurred," said firefighter Mark Nees, who arrived from neighboring Oregon to help his California colleagues.

"We've gone through lots of wildfire over the years, this is the worst I've seen personally," the team leader told AFP.

In the center of town as well as the suburbs, there is nothing left of many houses - most of which are built of wood in California - except charred debris and sometimes a brick chimney rising into the sky.

Some buildings are strangely spared, such as an almost intact garage surrounded by a white plastic fence that was melted from the heat.

Firefighters' red trucks and yellow suits, along with the blue pickups of electricity company workers, are the only splashes of color in the desolate, ashen grey landscape: the 27,000 inhabitants of Paradise were evacuated, some barely escaping the flames.

Others were not so lucky: rescue workers recovered bodies from burned residences in Paradise on Saturday as the death toll from the blaze mounts.

Inhabitants were prevented from returning to the area as a state of emergency requires, a police officer told AFP.

Despite the protests of residents who want to try to find a loved one, an animal or just to find out if their house is still standing, dozens of vehicles were forced to turn back.

'I don't know where else to look'

Other evacuees wait in anguish near the police barricade, including Katie McCrary, an old lady without a cell phone who has no news of her two sons and grandchildren.

"I don't know if they are all right, if they got out, I've been to the shelters in Chico, they're not there," she said, referring to a neighboring city.

"I don't know where else to look," McCrary said, with soot on her sweater, visibly exhausted after having spent two nights in her car on the side of the road.

Dozens of people were still missing on Saturday.

"Our neighbor and his daughter stayed, we haven't been able to get hold of them and they live right below us," said Jodie Colvard, who was not present when the evacuation took place.

She also waits, and worries about her dog.

"Our German shepherd is still in there, we left in the morning and we couldn't get back in, so she's still in there," Colvard said.

An electricity company employee took the address and promised to check on the dog.

"If the house is still there," she said.

The fire, which has already consumed over 150 square miles (390 square kilometers) of forest and brush, continued to rage on Saturday, and was only 20 percent contained.

What is left of Paradise is still not safe: "It is still very early, there is a wind event predicted tonight till Monday morning, red flag for fire again," said Nees, the firefighter.

There are "potential areas that have not burned that can possibly have new fire if embers are thrown," he said.

He and his men are working "so that things don't get any worse."

"Hopefully people will be able to come back," Nees said.

The death toll from the most destructive fire to hit California rose to 23 on Saturday as rescue workers recovered more bodies of people killed by the devastating blaze.

Firefighters are battling raging fires at both ends of the state, but there is little hope of containing the flames anytime soon.

"Today, 14 additional bodies were located, which brings our total number to 23," Sheriff Kory Honea told a news conference.

Ten of the bodies were found in the town of Paradise while four were discovered in the Concow area, both in Butte County, Honea said.

Rescuers could be seen removing remains over a period of several hours in Paradise and placing them in a black hearse.

Pieces of bodies were transported by bucket, while intact remains were carried in body bags.

So far, a total of 19 of the people killed in what authorities have dubbed the "Camp Fire" have been reported in Paradise, where more than 6,700 buildings -- most of them residences -- have been consumed by the late-season inferno.

From miles around, acrid smoke could be seen in the sky around Paradise, the sun barely visible. On the ground, cars were reduced to metal carcasses, while power lines were also gnawed by the flames.

Locals fled the danger, but police told AFP some farmers returned to check on their cattle.

"The magnitude of destruction we have seen is really unbelievable and heartbreaking, and our hearts go to everybody who has been affected by this," said Mark Ghilarducci, the director of the California Office of Emergency Services.

Governor-elect Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency to provide assistance to the hardest-hit areas in the fire-prone state.

 The fast-moving Camp Fire blaze in the north broke out early Thursday.

Fanned by strong winds, it has so far scorched 100,000 acres (40,500 hectares) and is 20 percent contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said Saturday. So far, three of the more than 3,200 firefighters deployed have been injured.

They estimate they will need three weeks to fully contain the blaze.

Local power authorities have told state officials an outage occurred near the spot where the fire erupted, The Sacramento Bee reported, but there is still no official cause of the Camp Fire blaze.

 Trump, who was in France for World War I commemorations, drew criticism online for his somewhat unsympathetic reaction to the devastation earlier on Saturday.

"There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor," Trump tweeted.

"Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!"

 

 Malibu mansions in flames

In southern California, more wildfires burned, including one just north of Los Angeles and another in Ventura County near Thousand Oaks, where a Marine Corps veteran shot dead 12 people in a country music bar on Wednesday.

Authorities said some 200,000 people are under mandatory evacuation orders, including the entire city of Malibu.

The "Woolsey Fire" had consumed around 69,000 acres, destroyed at least 150 homes and was so far not contained, the Ventura County Fire Department said, adding that evacuation orders were issued for some 88,000 homes in the county and neighboring Los Angeles County.

"We heard this was coming so we set up the sprinklers and we hosed the whole house down," said Malibu resident Patrick Henry. "We pretty much had enough time to get the dogs in the trunk."

 Malibu is one of the most in-demand locations in California for stars seeking privacy and luxury.

Reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, who lives just north of coastal Malibu, revealed she was forced to flee her home.

"I heard the flames have hit our property at our home in Hidden Hills but now are more contained and have stopped at the moment," she said on Twitter. "I just pray the winds are in our favor."

Actor Martin Sheen, briefly reported missing by his actor son Charlie, was also forced to evacuate.

"We're fine, we're at Zuma Beach and we're probably going to sleep in the car tonight," Martin Sheen told Fox News 11, adding that it was the worst fire he had seen in 48 years of living in Malibu.

The wildfire reached Paramount Ranch, destroying the Western Town sets used for hundreds of productions including HBO'S sci-fi western "Westworld," officials and the network said.

Director Guillermo del Toro tweeted that Bleak House, his museum of horror movie memorabilia, was also in the path of the flames.

 

 Utter devastation

In Paradise, the flames destroyed hundreds of homes, a hospital, a gas station, several restaurants and numerous vehicles, officials said.

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued for more than 52,000 people in the scenic area in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains.

The National Weather Service said Saturday that strong winds and dry conditions were to continue through the weekend.

Nine die in California wildfires, tens of thousands forced to flee

Nine people were declared dead and tens of thousands evacuated Friday as fierce wildfires raged across the western US state of California, with one rapidly spreading blaze threatening the famed resort of Malibu.

All of the fatalities were reported in a massive late-season inferno in the town of Paradise, in Butte County north of the state capital Sacramento, where the entire population of 26,000 was ordered to leave, officials said.

The fast moving blaze, known as the "Camp Fire," began Thursday morning. Fanned by strong winds, it has scorched 70,000 acres (28,300 hectares) and has not been contained, the California Fire Department (Cal Fire) said.

Two other fires broke out in southern California, one in Ventura County near Thousand Oaks, where a Marine Corps veteran shot dead 12 people in a country music bar on Wednesday night.

"The magnitude of destruction we have seen is really unbelievable and heartbreaking and our hearts go to everybody who has been affected by this," said Mark Ghilarducci, the director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

"It's my sad duty to confirm that we now have a total of nine fatalities," he said, four more fatalities beyond the five reported earlier.

Details were limited, and Honea did not release names of the victims.

"I don't have all of the details because we have investigators out on the field attempting to get to those locations" where the casualties were reported, Honea said at a press conference.

But he did say that four people were found inside a vehicle in the Paradise area, while another was found nearby outside the vehicle. Three more were found outside a residence, and one inside a house.

Dozens of other people were reported missing.</s>The Latest On What's Now The Deadliest Wildfire In California History

At least 42 are dead in Butte County, Calif., where a devastating fire tore through the small town of Paradise and other communities. Many residents were left with nothing. Hundreds are still missing.</s>The Camp fire in northern California has killed 42 people, making it the deadliest wildfire in state history. It is also the most destructive, incinerating the town of Paradise and displacing more than 50,000 people. Other blazes continue to rage further south</s>CHICO, Calif. (Reuters) - Remains have been recovered from at least 42 people killed by a devastating wildfire that largely incinerated the town of Paradise in northern California, making it the deadliest in U.S. history, the Butte County sheriff said on Monday.

The latest death toll was announced after authorities located the remains of 13 additional victims from the Camp Fire, which also ranks as the most destructive on record in California, having leveled more than 7,100 homes and other buildings since it erupted on Thursday, officials said.

The number of people killed by the fire had stood at 29 earlier in the day.</s>PARADISE, Calif. (Reuters) - Search teams have recovered remains of 42 people killed by a fierce wildfire that largely incinerated the town of Paradise in northern California, marking the greatest loss of life from a wild land blaze in state history, authorities said on Monday.

The latest death toll, up from 29 tallied over the weekend, was announced by Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea at an evening news conference in the nearby city of Chico after authorities found the bodies of 13 more victims of the devastating blaze dubbed the Camp Fire.

The fire already ranked as the most destructive on record in California in terms of property losses, having consumed more than 7,100 homes and other structures since igniting on Thursday in Butte County’s Sierra foothills, about 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco.

Honea said 228 people were officially listed as missing in the disaster, but added that his office had received requests to check on the wellbeing of more than 1,500 people who had not been heard from by loved ones. Of those cases, 231 individuals had turned up safe, he said.

Authorities made clear, however, that they are bracing for the number of fatalities to climb.

In addition to 13 coroner-led recovery teams working in the fire zone, 150 search-and-recovery personnel were due to arrive on Tuesday, Honea said.

The sheriff said he also has requested three portable morgue teams from the U.S. military, a “disaster mortuary” crew and an unspecified number of cadaver dog units to assist in the search for human remains. Three groups of forensic anthropologists were also called in to help, he said.

The bulk of the destruction and loss of life occurred in and around the town of Paradise, where flames reduced most of the buildings to ash and rubble on Thursday night, just hours after the blaze erupted. Some 52,000 people remained under evacuation orders, the sheriff said.

The 42 confirmed fatalities marked the highest death toll in history from a single California wildfire, Honea said, far surpassing the previous record of 29 lives lost in 1933 from the Griffith Park blaze in Los Angeles.

Authorities reported two more people perished over the weekend in a separate blaze, dubbed the Woolsey Fire, that has destroyed 435 structures and displaced some 200,000 people in the mountains and foothills near Southern California’s Malibu coast, west of Los Angeles.

President Donald Trump, who drew criticism over the weekend for erroneously blaming the fires on “gross mismanagement” of forests, approved California Governor Jerry Brown’s request for a major disaster declaration on Monday. The measure hastens availability of federal emergency aid to fire-stricken regions of the state.

The fires have spread with an erratic intensity that has strained firefighting resources while catching many residents by surprise.

The bodies of some of the Camp Fire victims were found in burned-out wreckage of vehicles that were overrun by walls of fire as evacuees tried to flee, only to be trapped in deadly knots of traffic gridlock on Thursday night.

“It was very scary,” Mayor Jody Jones recounted of her family’s own harrowing escape from their home as fire raged all around them.

“It took a long time to get out. There was fire on both sides of the car. You could feel the heat coming in through the car,” she told CNN. Jones said her family is now living in their mobile home parked in a vacant lot.

More than 15,000 structures were threatened by the Camp Fire on Monday in an area so thick with smoke that visibility was reduced in some places to less than half a mile.

Perilous winds that stoked the fire through drought-parched brush and chaparral abated on Saturday, giving firefighters a chance to gain some ground against the flames.

High winds returned on Sunday but fell again Monday morning, with crews managing to carve containment lines around 30 percent of the Camp Fire perimeter, an area encompassing 117,000 acres of scorched, smoldering terrain.

The Woolsey Fire has blackened nearly 94,000 acres and was also 30 percent contained as of Monday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire).

Winds of up to 40 miles per hour (64 km per hour) were expected to continue in Southern California through Tuesday, heightening the risk of fresh blazes ignited by scattered embers. CalFire said 57,000 structures were still in harm’s way from the Woolsey Fire.

Forecasts called for winds to pick up again Monday night in Butte County, though with less force than previous days, National Weather Service meteorologist Aviva Braun told reporters.

Nearly 9,000 firefighters, many from out of state, were battling to suppress the Camp Fire, the Woolsey Fire and a handful of smaller Southern California blazes, backed by squadrons of water-dropping helicopters and airplane tankers.

Some evacuees in Malibu, a seaside community whose residents include a number of Hollywood celebrities, were allowed to return home but were left without power or cellphone service.

California has endured two of the worst wildfire seasons in its history over the past couple of years, a situation experts attribute in large part to prolonged drought across much of the Western United States.

Forty-six people died in a flurry of wind-driven wildfires that swept northern California’s wine country in October of last year, destroying some 8,900 homes and other structures. The worst of those blazes, dubbed the Tubbs Fire, was blamed for 22 of the deaths.</s>CHICO, Calif. (Reuters) - Remains have been recovered from at least 42 people killed by a devastating wildfire that largely incinerated the town of Paradise in northern California, making it the deadliest in U.S. history, the Butte County sheriff said on Monday.

The latest death toll was announced after authorities located the remains of 13 additional victims from the Camp Fire, which also ranks as the most destructive on record in California, having leveled more than 7,100 homes and other buildings since it erupted on Thursday, officials said.

The number of people killed by the fire had stood at 29 earlier in the day.</s>Thousands of firefighters spend a fifth day digging battle lines to contain the "Camp Fire" in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains north of Sacramento, while search teams are on a grim mission to recover the dead

PARADISE, United States – The number of people killed by a massive blaze in northern California rose to 42 on Monday, November 12, making it the deadliest wildfire in the history of the state.

Thousands of firefighters spent a fifth day digging battle lines to contain the "Camp Fire" in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains north of Sacramento, while search teams were on a grim mission to recover the dead.

"As of today, an additional 13 human remains have been recovered, which brings the total number to 42," Sheriff Kory Honea told a news conference.

The blaze is "the deadliest wildland fire in California history," Honea said.

Although it is difficult to be certain due to inconsistencies in record keeping and categorization, the Camp Fire appears to deadliest American wildfire in a century – since the Cloquet Fire killed an estimated 1,000 people in Minnesota in 1918.

The Camp Fire is the largest of several infernos that have sent a quarter of a million people fleeing their homes across the tinder-dry state, with winds of up to 60 miles (100 kilometers) per hour fanning the fast-moving flames.

In addition to the historic loss of life, the Camp Fire blaze is also more destructive than any other on record, having razed 6,500 homes in the town of Paradise, effectively wiping it off the map.

More than 5,100 firefighters from as far as the states of Washington and Texas have been working to halt the advance of the inferno as "mass casualty" search teams backed by anthropologists and a DNA lab pick through the charred ruins to identify remains -- sometimes reduced to no more than shards of bone.

At least 44 people have died in fire zones in north and south California, where acrid smoke has blanketed the sky for miles, the sun barely visible.

US President Donald Trump "declared that a major disaster exists in the state of California and ordered federal aid to supplement state, tribal, and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by wildfires," the White House said in a statement.

The move makes aid available to the state's fire-hit Butte, Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

On the ground, cars caught in the flames have been reduced to scorched metal skeletons, while piles of debris smolder where houses once stood, an occasional brick wall or chimney remaining.

Glenn Simmons, 64, told AFP in the nearby town of Chico that he had been sleeping in his car since Thursday, unable to find a space in a shelter.

"I was planning on maybe moving out of state, or into southern California... Everything is burned up. I have my clothes and I have a backpack, and that's pretty much it," he said.

The Camp Fire has reduced around 17 square miles (45 square kilometers) of Butte County's forested hills mostly to charred wasteland -- an area which hasn't seen rainfall of more than half an inch (one centimeter) in more than 30 weeks.

It is currently 25 percent contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said.

Three firefighters have been injured in the effort to quell the blaze's advance.

At the southern end of the state, another three firefighters have been injured battling the Woolsey Fire, which has devoured mansions and mobile homes alike in the coastal celebrity resort of Malibu.

The blaze is similar in size to the Camp Fire but has been much less destructive, and the death toll has been limited to two victims found in a vehicle on a private driveway.

While some Malibu-area residents were allowed to return home late Sunday, the city of Calabasas, just northeast of coastal Malibu, came under evacuation orders.

"This is not the new normal, this is the new abnormal. And this new abnormal will continue, certainly in the next 10 to 15 to 20 years," California Governor Jerry Brown said Sunday in a stark warning over the likely damaging effects of climate change.

"Unfortunately, the best science is telling us that the dryness, warmth, drought, all those things, they're going to intensify."

Over the weekend, the Woolsey Fire engulfed parts of Thousand Oaks, where the community is still shell-shocked after a Marine Corps veteran shot dead 12 people in a country music bar on Wednesday.

The blaze has consumed around 93,000 acres (37,600 hectares), destroyed an estimated 370 structures and was 30 percent contained, according to Cal Fire.

Singer Miley Cyrus's home was one of the buildings destroyed in southern California.

"Completely devestated (sic) by the fires affecting my community. I am one of the lucky ones. My animals and LOVE OF MY LIFE made it out safely & that's all that matters right now," she tweeted.

"My house no longer stands but the memories shared with family & friends stand strong."

Many of the affected area's residents own horses, and Twitter has been flooded with messages from people seeking and offering help.

Actor James Woods, a rare political conservative in liberal Hollywood, has made new friends by using his Twitter account to help find missing people and getting help for pets, including horses.

The Ventura County Humane Society said it was "deeply humbled" by a $100,000 donation from actress Sandra Bullock and her family to rescue and care for animals evacuated from the fires. – Rappler.com</s>CHICO — The Camp Fire became the deadliest wildfire in California state history Monday.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Monday evening that an additional 13 deaths have been confirmed, bringing the total number of deaths to 42.

The Sheriff’s Office released the names of three people killed in the fire, saying their families had been notified.

The people identified Monday were Ernest Foss, 65, of Paradise; Jesus Fernandez, 48, of Concow; and Carl Wiley, 77, of Magalia.

Honea said he has requested about 150 additional search and rescue personnel to assist in the search for human remains. Additionally, he has asked for cadaver dogs, portable morgue units and additional radio equipment.

The sheriff would not say whether he expected the fire’s death toll to rise. But he did say he wanted to complete the search in a timely fashion for both the families of the deceased and the communities that have been affected.

With the number of fatalities at 29 on Sunday night, it was tied with Los Angeles County’s Griffith Park Fire of 1933, which burned 47 acres.

The Camp Fire consumed more acreage, reaching 117,000 acres as of Monday evening. The fire started Thursday morning near Camp Creek Road in the Feather River Canyon off Highway 70 near Pulga. It quickly moved west and engulfed the town of Paradise.

Cal Fire said 7,177 residential and commercial buildings have been destroyed and 92 have been damaged. The damage assessment team has created an interactive website that displays which buildings have been destroyed and those that are still standing.

Containment increased to 30 percent Monday, but Cal Fire said 15,500 structures remain threatened. A total of 5,139 people are working on the fire.

According to Cal Fire, winds from the northeast are fueling the fire. Firefighters worked Sunday night into Monday to hold lines and protect homes in areas in or near Magalia, Brush Creek and Cherokee.

Fire crews are fighting flames “aggressively,” according to Cal Fire. Officials are concerned about possibly shifting winds, putting other areas in danger.

Fifty-two thousand people from the areas of Paradise, Magalia, Concow, Butte Creek Canyon and Butte Valley remained under evacuation orders Monday, and Honea said no new evacuation warnings or orders had been issued. It was not yet clear, however, when residents could return home.

There are more than 200 people still missing, according to Honea. A hotline network has been set up to report people missing and people found. The numbers are (530) 538-6570, (530) 538-7544 and (530) 538-7671.

Many of the evacuation centers are full, so new ones are being evaluated. Those open with space available include: Bidwell Jr. High School, 2376 North Ave, Chico; Yuba-Sutter Fairground, 442 Franklin Ave, Yuba City; Plumas County Fairgrounds, 204 Fairground Rd, Quincy; and Butte County Fairgrounds, 199 E Hazel St., Gridley.

Small animals can be taken to the Chico Municipal Airport, 150 Airpark Blvd. Large animals can go to the Butte County Fairgrounds, 199 E. Hazel St. in Gridley.

The Gridley fairgrounds are no longer accepting donations, but Gridley High School is. Chico and Pleasant Valley high schools Monday collected clothing for students from Paradise High School, and they’ll be able to pick from what’s available Tuesday at the small gym at PV.

Air quality is forecast to be very unhealthy through Tuesday by the Butte County Air Quality Management District. Smoke levels are expected to be the highest near the active fire, immediately downwind of the fire area, and within and downwind of canyon drainages.

People with heart or lung disease, older adults, and children should avoid all physical activity outdoors. Everyone else should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.

The Butte County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Tuesday in their chambers in the County Administration Building to ratify a local disaster proclamation and a health emergency declaration concerning the Camp Fire.

Chief Administrative Officer Shari McCracken declared the local emergency Thursday, which is necessary to qualify the county for state and federal aid. The supervisors have to ratify it within seven days for it to remain in effect.

Butte County Health Officer Dr. Andrew Miller declared the health emergency Friday, because the debris from the fire likely contains hazardous material and probable radioactive material. Again it has to be ratified by the supervisors.

President Donald Trump on Monday approved a major disaster declaration for California, opening access to federal funding for people affected by wildfires in Butte, Los Angeles and Ventura counties. Assistance can include grants for temporary housing and home repairs, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses and other programs to help residents and business owners recover from the disaster.

Residents and business owners can apply for assistance beginning Tuesday at http://www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by calling 1-800-621-3362.</s>The remains of at least 42 people have been located in charred areas of the wildfire still burning in northern California outside of the city of Chico. More than 200 people are reported missing.</s>Authorities on Monday reported 13 more fatalities from a blaze in Northern California that destroyed a town, bringing the total death toll so far to 42 and making it the deadliest wildfire in recorded state history.

The dead have been 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.

In some cases, there were only charred fragments of bone, so small that coroner’s investigators used a wire basket to sift and sort them. The search for bodies was continuing.

Hundreds of people were unaccounted for by the sheriff’s reckoning, four days after the so-called Camp Fire swept over Paradise, a town of 27,000, with flames so fierce that authorities brought in a mobile DNA lab and forensic anthropologists to help identify the dead.

The Camp Fire late Monday had grown to 117,000 acres and is 30 percent contained, Cal Fire officials said.

A day before the fire started, PG&E contacted a woman about sparks from its lines on her property in the community of Pulga. On Monday, declared the area surrounding those lines a crime scene.

The statewide death toll from wildfires over the past week has reached 44.

A 1933 blaze in Griffith Park in Los Angeles killed 29 people, and a series of wildfires in Northern California’s wine country last fall killed 44 people.
The Camp Fire in Butte County is now ranked as the deadliest wildfire in Californian history, with 42 people confirmed dead and 228 people missing.