Mon. 9:09 a.m.: A grim search for more fire victims in Northern California
PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — As wildfires continued to rage at both ends of California, officials released another grim statistic: six more dead in a swath of Northern California wiped out by fire, raising the death toll there to 29. It matched California’s record for deaths in a single fire.
Another 228 remain unaccounted for as crews stepped up the search for bodies and missing people. Two people were killed in a wildfire in Southern California.
Ten search teams were working in Paradise — a town of 27,000 that was largely incinerated last week — and in surrounding communities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Authorities called in a DNA lab and teams of anthropologists to help identify victims.
Statewide, 150,000 remained displaced as more than 8,000 fire crews battled wildfires that have scorched 400 square miles, with out-of-state crews continuing to arrive. Whipping winds and tinder-dry conditions threaten more areas through the rest of the week, fire officials warned.
“This is truly a tragedy that all Californians can understand and respond to,” Gov. Jerry Brown said at a press briefing. “It’s a time to pull together and work through these tragedies.”
Celebrities whose coastal homes have been damaged or destroyed in a Southern California wildfire or were forced to flee from the flames expressed sympathy and solidarity with less-famous people hurt worse by the state’s deadly blazes, and gave their gratitude to firefighters who kept them safe.
“Returned to my house in Malibu after evacuating,” Gerard Butler wrote in an Instagram post next to a photo that showed a burned-out structure and a badly scorched vehicle. “Heartbreaking time across California. Inspired as ever by the courage, spirit and sacrifice of firefighters.”
“Half-gone” the “300” actor grumbled in his Scottish accent in a video that shows embers, ashes and what’s left of his home.
Robin Thicke’s Malibu home burned down entirely, according to his representative.
The 41-year-old singer said on Instagram that he, his girlfriend and his two kids are “safe and surrounded by friends and family” and were thankful to firefighters.
“As we drove to safety, they risked their lives trying to save our home,” Thicke said.
Camille Grammer Meyer of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” also lost her Malibu home on Saturday night, her publicist, Howard Bragman, said in an email to The Associated Press.
“Sadly my house couldn’t be saved,” Meyer, the ex-wife of actor Kelsey Grammer, wrote in an Instagram post that showed a huge house engulfed in flames.
Caitlyn Jenner was among the fortunate ones, learning Sunday that her house was spared.
“Yay, our house made it!” Jenner said in an Instagram video then showed the bare, blackened landscape surrounding the house.
“It was devastating out here in Malibu,” Jenner said. The hills are just totally scorched. Fried to say the least….we’re very, very lucky.”
Many others including Orlando Bloom, Alyssa Milano, Lady Gaga, “The Office” actor Rainn Wilson and fashion designer Donna Karan were among evacuees. Some knew their homes were safe (for now) and waited for a chance to return. Others were in the dark, posting pictures of plumes of smoke and saying their houses were somewhere in there.
The governor declared a state emergency and said California is requesting aid from the Trump administration. President Donald Trump has blamed “poor” forest management for the fires. Brown said federal and state governments must do more forest management but that climate change is the greater source of the problem.
“And those who deny that are definitely contributing to the tragedies that we’re now witnessing, and will continue to witness in the coming years,” he said.
Drought and warmer weather attributed to climate change, and the building of homes deeper into forests have led to longer and more destructive wildfire seasons in California. While California officially emerged from a five-year drought last year, much of the northern two-thirds of the state is abnormally dry.
Firefighters battling fire with shovels and bulldozers, flame retardant and hoses expected wind gusts up to 40 mph overnight Sunday.
In Southern California , firefighters beat back a new round of winds Sunday and the fire’s growth and destruction are believed to have been largely stopped. Malibu celebrities and mobile-home dwellers in nearby mountains were slowly learning whether their homes had been spared or reduced to ash. Two people were killed and the fire had destroyed nearly 180 structures.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby stressed there were numerous hotspots and plenty of fuel that had not yet burned, but at sunset he said there had been huge successes despite “a very challenging day.”
Flames also besieged Thousand Oaks, the Southern California city in mourning over the massacre of 12 people in a shooting rampage at a country music bar on Wednesday night.
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