Hundreds Of Californians Still Missing As Death Toll Rises To 48 In State’s Most Destructive Fire
“It’s just earthshaking for all of us, you know?” said Chico resident Tammy Mezera. Media outlets also take a look at the painstaking work going into searching for and identifying bodies of victims.
Sacramento Bee:
Camp Fire Death Toll Now At 48, With Authorities Searching For Additional Victims
The toll from California’s deadliest wildfire continued to grow Tuesday, as authorities said six more victims of the Camp Fire had been recovered inside homes in the Butte County town of Paradise, bringing the total to 48 so far. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea did not release additional identities of the dead or update the number of people believed to be missing. To date, the sheriff has released the names of only three victims as officials continue the laborious task of collecting remains and preparing for DNA testing to discover the identities of some victims. (Stanton, 11/13)
San Jose Mercury News:
Camp Fire: 48 Funerals And Counting ... 'It’s Beyond Words, Really'
At every community meeting since the start of California’s deadliest wildfire, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea is the last one to speak. The worst news is always saved for the end. “I’m the sheriff and I’m also your coroner,” he will say to the fire refugees filling the auditorium. “Unfortunately the news I have for you is not good.” (Sulek, 11/13)
The New York Times:
A Search In Fire-Ravaged California For What No One Wants To Find
It is a measure of how frequent and deadly wildfires have become in California that identifying badly burned remains has become an area of expertise. Once again cadaver dogs have been summoned, forensic dental experts will follow and coroners and anthropologists are using their experience from previous wildfires to locate the victims. One search team on Tuesday toured the foundation of a flattened home in this singed stretch of Paradise, Calif. Carefully they circled the charred bathtub, the melted kitchen floor, the skeletal playground — poking everywhere with long metal poles. (Turkewitz and Fuller, 11/13)
The Associated Press:
Identifying Wildfire Dead: DNA, And Likely Older Methods Too
Authorities doing the somber work of identifying the victims of California’s deadliest wildfire are drawing on leading-edge DNA technology, but older scientific techniques and deduction could also come into play, experts say. With the death toll from the Northern California blaze topping 40 and expected to rise, officials said they were setting up a rapid DNA-analysis system, among other steps. (Peltz, 11/13)
Los Angeles Times:
Death Toll Jumps To 48 In Paradise Fire As Frantic Search For Missing Continues
The confusing search for hundreds of missing people has been complicated by many factors: bad cellphone service. A lack of access to burned-out areas. A sheer scattering of people across the region who are staying in shelters, hotels, friends’ houses and their vehicles and may have not gotten in touch with loved ones. (Serna, Smith, Branson-Potts and Santa Cruz, 11/13)
KQED:
Stories Of Survival From The Camp Fire
There are many stories about people escaping the blaze or staying behind to defend their homes. Here are a few. (Siegel and Hutson, 11/13)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Trapped By Camp Fire, More Than A Dozen People — One 90 — Survived In Chilly Lake
When Scott realized that his lakeside home in the wooded hills of Butte County was surrounded by fire, he knew he had only one way out: the water. He, his wife and their two young adult sons, along with two dogs and a cat, plunged into the chilly Concow Reservoir 20 miles east of Chico last Thursday as flames singed the giant tule reeds on shore behind them. (Alexander, 11/13)
San Jose Mercury News:
Two Years Of California Wildfires Deadlier Than Almost 30 Years Of U.S. Quakes
In the last two years, 105 people died in California wildfires in 2017 and 2018, eclipsing the total number of wildfire fatalities in the entire previous decade, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. That’s more than all the U.S. deaths from earthquakes since 1990. The Camp Fire, with 42 dead as of Tuesday, topped the 29 killed in the Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles in 1933, the 25 killed in the Tunnel Fire that burned through the Oakland Hills in 1991 and the 22 killed in last year’s deadly Wine Country Tubbs Fire. (Woolfolk, 11/13)
Arizona Republic:
California Wildfires Could Cost Customers Of PG&E And Other Utilities
The costs of the damages from wildfires that ravaged parts of California last year could show up in utility bills of people throughout the state. And the burden for paying for damages caused by the current catastrophic fires could also hit millions of Californians' pocketbooks. (Randazzo, 11/13)