National Guard to help search for remains from California's deadliest wildfire

World 15:02 14.11.2018

National Guard troops were due to arrive on Wednesday to help search for more victims in the charred, ash-strewn ruins where the northern California town of Paradise stood, before it was erased in the deadliest, most destructive wildfire in state history.

The grim, painstaking search is concentrated in what little is left of Paradise, a Sierra foothills town in Butte County, California, about 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco, that was overrun by flames and largely incinerated last Thursday.

The killer blaze, fuelled by thick, drought-desiccated scrub and fanned by fierce winds, capped a catastrophic California wildfire season that experts largely attribute to prolonged dry spells they say are symptomatic of global climate change.

The Butte County disaster coincided with a flurry of blazes in Southern California, most notably the Woolsey Fire, which has killed two people, destroyed over 400 structures and displaced about 200,000 people in the mountains and foothills near the Malibu coast west of Los Angeles.

SEE ALSO: Death toll increased to 50 California wildfires

The origins of both the Camp and Woolsey fires were listed as under investigation. But two utility companies, Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric , reported to regulators they experienced problems with transmission lines or substations in areas around the time the blazes were reported to have started.

By late Tuesday, with the help of diminished winds and rising humidity levels, fire crews had managed to carve containment lines around more than a third of both fires, easing further the immediate threat to life and property.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and California Governor Jerry Brown were scheduled on Wednesday to pay a visit to the areas, which President Donald Trump declared a disaster areas, making federal emergency assistance more readily available.

After touring some of California's earlier wildfire zones in August, Zinke blamed "gross mismanagement of forests" because of timber harvest restrictions that he said were supported by "environmental terrorist groups".

While prospects for suppressing the flames grew more hopeful, authorities pressed on with the task of accounting for those listed as missing.

County Sheriff Kory Honea said he requested the Guard troops, along with "disaster mortuary" crew, portable military morgue teams and specialists from a private DNA laboratory to speed the detection and identification of additional remains.

"We want to cover as much ground as we can," Honea said at a Tuesday evening news conference where he announced that the six latest sets of remains had been recovered in Paradise earlier in the day.

The fatality count of 48 already far exceeds the previous record for the greatest loss of life from a single wildfire in California history - 29 people killed by the Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles in 1933.

Honea said that in some cases victims were burned beyond recognition, or even beyond the use of fingerprint IDs. Dental records will be needed to positively identify some, but "dental records might not be available if the dentist office burned to the ground", he said.

"We're finding remains in various states," he told reporters. "People have been badly burned. Some of them, I assume, have been consumed."

He said it was possible that some remains might turn up only once residents with homes still intact are able to return. More than 50,000 remained under evacuation orders.

Honea had previously said 228 people were listed as missing. However, he said on Tuesday night those numbers were highly fluid and that his office planned to publish a new list of missing persons soon and would ask the public to help account for them.

He said it remained unclear how many individuals whose whereabouts were unknown had perished or fallen out of touch in chaotic evacuations. For graphic on Deadly California fires, click https://tmsnrt.rs/2Plpuui

Wind-driven flames roared through Paradise so swiftly that residents were forced to flee for their lives with little or no warning. Bodies of some victims were found in and around the burned-out wreckage of vehicles engulfed in the firestorm as evacuation traffic ground to a half in deadly knots of gridlock hours after the fire erupted.

By late Tuesday, the Camp Fire had blackened 130,000 acres (52,600 hectares) in all.

The Woolsey fire by comparison has scorched 96,000 acres (39,000 hectares) of chaparral-covered rolling hills and canyons spanning Ventura and Los Angeles counties, an area roughly the size of Denver.

On Tuesday, white-clad forensic teams fanned out to pick through the barren, fire-scorched lots in a town once home to 27,000 people.

On a residential street in Paradise lined with obliterated houses, a 10-member search crew wearing white protective suits and red helmets used a dog to scour the debris.

"Look for skulls, the big bones," one forensics worker said to others as they used metal poles and their hands to sift through ruins. At a nearby community swimming pool, recovery workers stirred green, darkened waters with long poles to probe for bodies.

Top Ukrainian Commander's Stepson Leads Pro-Russian Convoy in Sydney - VIDEO

News line

Arsenal keep up title pressure as Trossard sinks Manchester United
Arsenal keep up title pressure as Trossard sinks Manchester United
23:00 12.05.2024
7 killed in missile attack against Russia's Belgorod
22:05 12.05.2024
OSCE Chair-in-Office Ian Borg to visit South Caucasus
21:00 12.05.2024
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry expresses condolences to Afghanistan
Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry expresses condolences to Afghanistan
20:00 12.05.2024
Azerbaijan's Parliament Speaker embarks on working visit to Uzbekistan
19:26 12.05.2024
Azerbaijani MFA expresses condolences to Brazil
19:00 12.05.2024
Azerbaijan weather forecast for May 13
Azerbaijan weather forecast for May 13
18:00 12.05.2024
Catalonia goes to polls in vote that will gauge support for independence
17:20 12.05.2024
Massachusetts man who received first-ever pig kidney transplant dies at 62
Massachusetts man who received first-ever pig kidney transplant dies at 62
16:13 12.05.2024
Fire destroys one of biggest shopping centres in Warsaw
15:49 12.05.2024
Border guards of Russia leave the border regions of Armenia and Azerbaijan
15:20 12.05.2024
Azerbaijani para-taekwondo fighter crowned European champion
Azerbaijani para-taekwondo fighter crowned European champion
14:55 12.05.2024
Top Ukrainian Commander's Stepson Leads Pro-Russian Convoy in Sydney - VIDEO
14:33 12.05.2024
Flash floods kill more than 300 people in northern Afghanistan after heavy rains, UN says
14:01 12.05.2024
Thousands protest against ‘foreign influence’ bill in Georgia
13:06 12.05.2024
Israeli military intensifies bombardment of Jabalia refugee camp
Israeli military intensifies bombardment of Jabalia refugee camp
13:03 12.05.2024
Ethiopian FM, Azerbaijani ambassador discuss COP29
12:20 12.05.2024
Swiss Vice Chancellor Andre Simonazzi dies at 55 while hiking
11:45 12.05.2024
Luka Modric set to depart from Real Madrid at season’s end
Luka Modric set to depart from Real Madrid at season’s end
11:00 12.05.2024
Lithuania voting in presidential election and citizenship referendum
10:23 12.05.2024
Russian Prime Minister to have 10 deputies
Russian Prime Minister to have 10 deputies
10:00 12.05.2024
Azerbaijani Deputy Defense Minister placed on reserve
09:42 12.05.2024
Swiss singer wins Eurovision 2024 contest - VIDEO
09:26 12.05.2024
Ceasefire in Gaza to happen after Hamas releases hostages - Biden
09:01 12.05.2024
Top Ukrainian Commander's Stepson Leads Pro-Russian Convoy in Sydney
01:10 12.05.2024
Shusha hosts 7th “Kharibulbul" International Music Festival
21:00 11.05.2024
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken Honors partner of IEPF Heidi Kühn - PHOTOS
18:00 11.05.2024
President, First Lady participate in opening of Kharibulbul Music Festival in Shusha
16:51 11.05.2024
Spanish Photographer Gervasio Sanchez Concludes Visit to Azerbaijan as Guest of IEPF - PHOTOS
16:00 11.05.2024
Head of UN NGO Branch to Visit Azerbaijan - PHOTOS
14:00 11.05.2024
Mbappé announces PSG exit ahead of likely Real Madrid move
13:23 11.05.2024
Former Armenian MP detained in Russia
Former Armenian MP detained in Russia
12:59 11.05.2024
Actions of disobedience resume in Yerevan and several Armenian regions
12:38 11.05.2024
Price of Azerbaijan oil drops
Price of Azerbaijan oil drops
12:19 11.05.2024
Azerbaijani and Armenian FMs to continue negotiations in Almaty today
11:55 11.05.2024
President Ilham Aliyev receives ICESCO Director General in Shusha
11:42 11.05.2024
Uzbek Representative IEPF Shukhrat Barlas Receives "100th Anniversary of Heydar Aliyev" Jubilee Medal - PHOTOS/VIDEO
11:25 11.05.2024
President: We never wanted war, and we don't want it today either
10:50 11.05.2024
Kharibulbul International Music Festival to kick off in Shusha today
10:35 11.05.2024
President of COP29 visits COMSATS headquarters in Pakistan
10:13 11.05.2024
Hamısı