The remains of six more victims of California’s most lethal and destructive wildfire in history have been found, bringing the death toll to 48 in the so-called Camp Fire in northern California and 51 total, statewide.
Forensic teams with cadaver dogs spent the day combing through ash and charred debris in what was let of the town of Paradise, around 175 miles (280km) north of San Francisco, near the state capital of Sacramento. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said 100 National Guard troops were being sent in at his request to assist in the search for additional human remains left by the Camp Fire.
The names of 80 people, many of them elderly, have been released in an effort to locate them amid the blaze damage.
The intensified effort to locate victims comes on the sixth day of a blaze that has incinerated more than 8,800 homes and other buildings, including most of Paradise, a town once home to 27,000 people that was largely erased hours after the fire began last Thursday. More than 50,000 local residents remained under evacuation orders.
In southern California, the Woolsey Fire has killed three people, destroyed more than 400 structures and displaced some 200,000 people in the mountains and foothills near the Malibu coast west of Los Angeles.
Darkened skies could be seen for days as the fire raged on, with winds picking up the smoke and sending it as far as Wisconsin nearly 2,000 miles away.
The Woolsey Fire has displaced several celebrities as well including Gerard Butler, Neil Young, and Lady Gaga, who was seen delivering pizzas, coffee, and gift cards to a nearby evacuation centre in Los Angeles.
That fire has consumed more than 97,000 acres through Los Angeles and Ventura counties and leaving 57,000 residents still in danger as firefighting authorities said only half of the blaze has been contained.
Donald Trump was briefed on the situation by Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) director Brock Long. Mr Trump said he had a phone call with California governor Jerry Brown “to let him know that we are with him, and the people of California, all the way!”
The president had tweeted over the weekend the fires were due to "poor" "forest management" in the state but did not elaborate on what that actually meant. He also threatened to stop federal government payments to California, presumably funds earmarked for forest management.
To see how the day unfolded follow our live blog below
The news was likewise more upbeat on the southern end of California's wildfire front, where a blaze called the Woolsey Fire has killed two people, destroyed more than 400 structures and displaced some 200,000 people in the mountains and foothills near the Malibu coast west of Los Angeles.
However, containment of the fire grew to 35 per cent on Tuesday as several communities previously under evacuation orders were reopened to residents, a sign firefighters were gaining the upper hand, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said.
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Aircraft deployed to tackle the fire as it edges up to the tarmacA statement from the couple says they "are very grateful to be safe along with their animals".
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The IndependentThe 25-year-old singer revealed her home ‘no longer stands’ but added: 'I'm grateful for all I have left'The Guard contingent, about 100 military police trained to look for and identify human remains, will reinforce the coroner-led recovery teams, cadaver dogs and forensic anthropologists already scouring the ghostly landscape of a fire that has killed at least 48 people.
The bodies of some victims were found in and around the burned-out wreckage of vehicles engulfed in the firestorm as evacuation traffic halted in deadly knots of gridlock hours after the fire erupted.
"We're finding remains in various states," he told reporters. "People have been badly burned. Some of them, I assume, have been consumed."
Mr Honea had previously said 228 people were listed as missing.
He said it remained unclear how many individuals whose whereabouts were unknown had perished or fallen out of touch in chaotic evacuations.
A 10-member forensics search team wearing white protective suits and red helmets used a dog to scour the debris on one residential street in Paradise lined with razed houses.
"Look for skulls, the big bones," one forensics worker said to others as they used metal poles and their hands to sift through ruins.
Recovery workers stirred green, darkened waters with long poles to probe for bodies at a nearby community swimming pool.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said 150 additional search personnel were due to arrive in the area, reinforcing 13 coroner-led recovery teams.
He has requested portable morgue teams from the US military, as well as a disaster mortuary crew, additional cadaver dogs and forensic anthropology units.
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'Well, if you are a looter, think twice if you are heading back into Malibu'"I hope you are okay," reads one hand written note on the board filled with white and yellow sheets of notebook paper.
California firefighters work to contain new fires as the search for bodies continues
US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke will be meeting with California Governor Jerry BrownThe flames roared to life again in a mountainous wilderness area on Tuesday, sending up a huge plume of smoke near the community of Lake Sherwood.
The death toll reached 48 in California’s wildfires by Tuesday night, easily becoming the state’s deadliest wildfire in history as the grim search for the missing continued into Wednesday morning.
Among the landmarks and sites burned down includes a famous Jewish summer camp, where a wooden menorah was reportedly found among the remaining artifacts.
Here’s the latest reporting from the Associated Press on what’s it like in areas like Chico, California, where the search for missing loved ones continued Wednesday morning:
A message board at a shelter for the many people who fled California’s deadliest wildfire is filled with photos of the missing, as well as pleas for any information about relatives and friends.
“I hope you are okay,” reads one hand written note on the board filled with white and yellow sheets of notebook paper. Another had a picture of a missing man: “If seen, please have him call.”
Authorities on Tuesday reported six more fatalities from the Northern California blaze, bringing the total number of dead so far to 48. They haven’t disclosed the total number still missing, but earlier in the week that figure was more than 200.
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