The destructive California wildfires have so far killed at least 74 people with over 1,000 reported missing, authorities said.
Butte County Sheriff and Coroner Kory Honea said on Friday evening that the number of people missing due to Northern California’s Camp Fire, deemed as the deadliest and most destructive wildfire in the state’s history, was 1,011, CNN reported.
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Of the 74 victims, 71 were killed in Northern California while the three others died in the Woolsey Fire in Southern California.
As of Friday, the Camp Fire has destroyed about 9,700 homes and scorched 146,000 acres.
President Donald Trump is expected to visit the region on Saturday. Governor Jerry Brown and Governor-elect Gavin Newsom plan to accompany him.
Trump had on Monday evening said on that he had approved a request to declare the fires in California a major disaster, making people affected eligible for various types of federal government support.
Meanwhile, the Woolsey Fire in Southern California has destroyed 548 structures in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, said Cal Fire, the state’s forestry and fire protection agency.
More than 98,000 acres have been burned since the blaze began the same day as Camp Fire on November 8, while over 3,300 firefighters were making progress against the massive wildfire, which was 67 per cent contained as of Friday.
More than 230,000 acres burned in California in the past week — larger than the cities of Chicago and Boston combined.
The third blaze known as the Hill Fire has ripped through 4,500 acres in Ventura County. It was 85 per cent contained as of Monday, according to Cal Fire.
In 30 days, firefighters have battled more than 500 blazes, Cal Fire said.
Fanned by ferocious Santa Ana winds and fueled by dry tinder, the fires immolated a mountain town and jangled the nerves of many tens of thousands of residents forced to evacuate their homes.
The California fire season normally begins in late spring and lasts through summer.
But hot, dry weather has persisted this year well into autumn, and the winter rains have yet to arrive. The Santa Ana winds, which blow out of the Sierra Nevadas and toward the western coastline, are building into howling gales that dry the vegetation and the soil, creating potentially explosive fire conditions.
(With inputs from IANS)
