California officials try to account for hundreds missing in fire's wake

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California officials try to account for hundreds missing in fire's wake

By Kathleen Ronayne & Sudhin Thanawala

Chico, California: With 63 people confirmed dead in the Northern California wildfire, authorities on Friday were trying to winnow down a slapped-together list of the missing more than 600 names long, hoping many of them got out safely in the chaos more than a week ago.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, will travel to the disaster zone on Saturday to get a look at the grief and damage from the deadliest US wildfire in a century.

A firefighter searches a burned-out building in Paradise, California.

A firefighter searches a burned-out building in Paradise, California.Credit: Bloomberg

He might encounter locals resentful over his suggestions, repeated again on Friday local time, that California is to blame for its misfortune.

Butte County spokeswoman Miranda Bowersox said the "unaccounted for" list released by the sheriff's office late on Thursday was an effort to put names out there so people can call in to say they are OK.

The roster probably includes some who fled the blaze and do not realise they've been reported missing, Sheriff Kory Honea said.

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Some on the list have been confirmed as dead by family and friends on social media. Others have been located and are safe, but authorities haven't got around to marking them as found.

Tamara Conry said she should never have been the list.

"My husband and I are not missing and never were!" Conry wrote on Thursday night on Facebook. "We have no family looking for us ... I called and left a message to take our names off."

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Authorities compiled the list by going back to listen to all the dispatch calls they had received since the fire started, to make sure they didn't miss anyone.

In last year's catastrophic wildfires in California wine country, Sonoma County authorities at one point listed more than 2000 people as missing. But they slowly whittled down the number. In the end, 44 people died in several counties.

A firefighter searches for human remains in a trailer park destroyed in the Camp Fire in Paradise, California.

A firefighter searches for human remains in a trailer park destroyed in the Camp Fire in Paradise, California.Credit: AP

The wildfire this time practically burned the town of Paradise to the ground and heavily damaged the outlying communities of Magalia and Concow on November 8, destroying 9700 houses and 144 apartment buildings, authorities said.

On Friday, residents of smog-choked Northern California woke to learn that their pollution levels now exceed those in cities in China and India that regularly rank among the worst.

In the communities closest to the Paradise fire, an apocalyptic fog cloaked the roads, evacuees wandered in white masks and officials said respiratory hospitalizations had surged. Nearly 200 miles to the south, in San Francisco, the smoke was so thick that health warnings prompted widespread school closings. Even the city's cable cars were yanked from the streets.

A couple wears masks while walking at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.

A couple wears masks while walking at Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco.Credit: AP

Asked if he thought climate change had contributed to California's wildfires, Trump told Fox News in an interview: "Maybe it contributes a little bit. The big problem we have is management".

"You need management," he added, and then said, "I'm not saying that in a negative way, a positive - I'm just saying the facts."

Firefighters continued to gain ground against the California blaze, which blackened 575 square kilometres, but was 45 per cent contained and posed no imminent threat to populated areas. Crews managed stop it from spreading toward Oroville, population 19,000.

This patch of California, a former Gold Rush region in the Sierra Nevada foothills, is to some extent Trump country, with Trump beating Hillary Clinton in Butte County by 4 percentage points in 2016.

But some survivors resent Trump's comments during the height of the crisis, during which he also threaten to withhold federal payments from California.

A Camp Fire evacuee plays with a dog in a vehicle, left, while a woman watches television as they camp in a Walmart Inc. store parking lot in Chico, California.

A Camp Fire evacuee plays with a dog in a vehicle, left, while a woman watches television as they camp in a Walmart Inc. store parking lot in Chico, California.Credit: Bloomberg

"If you insult people, then you go visit them, how do you think you're going to be accepted? You're not going to have a parade," said Maggie Crowder of Magalia as she stood in a line outside a mall in Chico where government agencies set up an assistance centre.

But Joe Estes, a 26-year-old salesman from Magalia who voted for Trump, said he feels good about the president's visit and hopes it will focus attention on the need to rebuild.

"I think he should come, and hopefully help people and not put everybody down," he said.

More than 450 searchers continued looking for human remains in the ashes. Some 27,000 people, many of them retirees, lived in Paradise.

Burned-out trees stand in the haze outside of Paradise, California.

Burned-out trees stand in the haze outside of Paradise, California.Credit: Bloomberg

Around 52,000 people have been driven out and have gone to shelters, motels, the homes of friends and relatives, and a Walmart parking lot and an adjacent field in Chico, a dozen miles from Paradise.

With winter coming on, survivors are seeking answers on what assistance will be provided.

At the Walmart encampment, Richard Wilson, 68, sought information from the Federal Emergency management Agency about lodging. His wife is nearly bedridden from lupus and fibromyalgia.

"We're having to stay at a Marriott, which is like $100 a night, and we're running out of money," Wilson said as he stood outside in rubber sandals and no socks - the only footwear he had when he fled the flames that destroyed his home.

Stacy Lazzarino, who voted for Trump, said she thinks it would be good for the president to see the devastation up close.

"I think by maybe seeing it he's going to be like 'Oh my goodness,' and it might start opening people's eyes," she said.

In fire-stricken Southern California, meanwhile, more residents were being allowed back in their homes near Los Angeles after a blaze torched an area the size of Denver and destroyed more than 600 homes and other structures. The blaze was 69 percent contained, authorities said.

At least three deaths were reported.

Schools across a large swath of the state were closed because of smoke, and San Francisco's world-famous open-air cable cars were pulled off the streets.

AP, New York Times

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