California massive fire death toll reaches 23, rescue operations underway
The death toll from the most destructive fire to hit California rose to 23 yesterday as rescue workers recovered more bodies of people. Firefighters are battling raging fires at both ends of the state, but there's 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, 19 of the people killed 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.
"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 of California.
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% contained, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) said yesterday. So far, three of the more than 3,200 firefighters deployed have been injured. They will need three weeks to fully contain the blaze.
Local power authorities in Paradise have said 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. Meanwhile, Trump drew criticism for his somewhat unsympathetic reaction to the devastation.
There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. 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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2018
In southern California, more wildfires burned, including one just north of Los Angeles and another in Ventura County near Thousand Oaks. 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.
Evacuation orders were issued for some 88,000 homes in the Ventura County and neighboring Los Angeles County. Reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, who lives just north of coastal Malibu, revealed she was forced to flee her home. 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. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service said that strong winds and dry conditions were to continue through the weekend.
