BUTTE COUNTY, Calif. _ As firefighters embark Tuesday on their sixth day battling the Camp fire, a blaze that has tragically become the deadliest and most destructive in California's history, the wildfire continued to grow.
Early Tuesday morning, Cal Fire announced the blaze has now charred 125,000 acres, a slight increase from Monday night's total. The fire remains at 30 percent contained.
The Camp fire has claimed the lives of 42 people, a number that is almost certain to rise as rescue and recovery workers sift through the ruins and ashes of houses. An untold number of people remain missing, and it could be days or weeks before their loved ones have answers.
More than 7,500 homes, businesses and other structures have burned to the ground or been damaged beyond repair, leaving people shell-shocked and wondering how they will pick up the pieces.
Air quality across the Bay Area remains unhealthy Tuesday, and is expected to remain that way until at least Friday, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
According to the Air Quality Index, pollution levels between 150 and 200 are classified as "unhealthy" and serious enough that healthy people will suffer some ill effects from breathing the air. Much of the North and East Bay has been rated between 150 and 200 since Friday. The South Bay and a small number of locations in the North Bay were rated below that range, but still registered as "unhealthy for sensitive groups," meaning children and people with underlying respiratory conditions, such as asthma and COPD, are vulnerable to getting sick by prolonged exposure to the air.
A Winter Spare the Air alert has been issued through Friday, making it illegal, with few exceptions, to burn wood and other solid fuels in a fireplace, wood stove or outdoor fire pit.
Three victims have been publicly identified by fire officials so far. They are Ernest Foss, 65, of Paradise, Jesus Fernandez, 48, of Concow, and Carl Wiley, 77, of Magalia.
Before the Camp fire broke out Thursday morning, the state's single deadliest fire occurred in 1933 in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, where 29 people working on trails and roads were overcome by flames whipping through a nearby canyon.
Dozens of residents displaced by the fire huddled Monday at a Walmart parking lot, where people delivered donations of food, clothing and other supplies.
Aubrianna Hernandez, a junior at Chico High School, doesn't know yet whether her family's home in Paradise is still standing. But she decided to volunteer.
"I just kind of showed up," Hernandez said. "I know there's other people in worse conditions than me."
Gwendolyn and Richard Gaskin moved from the East Coast in May and purchased a mobile home in Paradise just three days before the fire broke out.
"We don't have nowhere to go at this point," Gwendolyn Gaskin said.
