Grim search for 1,276 missing after deadliest California wildfire

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

ENVIRONMENT NOVEMBER 18, 2018 / 4:18 AM / UPDATED 21 MINUTES AGO

Grim search for 1,276 missing after deadliest California wildfire

Terray Sylvester
3 MIN READ

PARADISE, Calif. (Reuters) - Authorities sifted through the charred wreckage of California’s deadliest ever wildfire on Sunday, searching for any signs of the 1,276 people now listed as missing after the Camp Fire tore through the mountain town of Paradise.

The remains of 76 people have been recovered so far, 63 of whom have been tentatively identified pending DNA confirmation. Early on Sunday the blaze, which ignited on Nov. 8, was 60 percent contained, officials said, up from 55 percent Saturday.

Rain is forecast for the area this week, potentially helping douse the blazes but raising the risk of floods and mudslides, adding to the misery of 46,000 people under evacuation orders.

On Saturday, two forensic anthropologists for the University of Nevada, Reno, were helping firefighters sort through the wreckage at a mobile home park for senior citizens in Paradise.

Firefighters peeled back the metal sheet of a collapsed roof as the anthropologists picked up visibly charred bone fragments, sorting them into paper bags.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-california-wildfire/grim-search-for-1276-missing-after-deadliest-california-wildfire-idUSKCN1NN07Y

[marlakay]

1. I was just talking to my daughter in northern bay area

Smoke has been bad there all week.

I told her rain is on the way, then read article which said rain will help firefighters but hinder finding remains.

Ugh!!

[Demsrule86]

2. In church today ( I live in Ohio) a family said they finally reached their Sister

but that she never made it out. She was dead in the house...so sad. Praying for rain.