Death toll from California wildfires rises to 31

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The death toll in northern California has risen to 31 and hundreds of people remain missing, as wildfires continue to burn.

Firefighters are trying to contain the multiple blazes, which could become the deadliest in the state's history.

Some progress finally emerged courtesy of a change in the weather as forecast fierce winds failed to materialize.

But the region is by no means in the clear.

"All those grasses and all that fuel is still abundant when it was drought season, and all the grasses will then come into season and then they die off," said David Clark, the Information Officer for CAL FIRE.

"So we have a lot of light flashing fuels, and they cause a lot of rapid growth in fires."

The two biggest fires are in what’s known as Wine Country – Sonoma County and Napa County – the location where the first fire is believed to have broken out.

A scene of the devastation caused by the fires. /Reuters Photo‍

The fear of quick-spreading fires forced new evacuations overnight, including all 5,000 residents living in the city of Calistoga.

"We just took whatever we saw and then we called our family members and we left," resident Ashley Clavel said.

At one shelter at Napa Valley College, there was some relief when fire officials said they had set up a successful perimeter protecting the city.

Esmeralda Gil, a resident of Calistoga, feels lucky to have had an advanced warning from her firefighter brother.

"We were woken up right when the fire was getting near to the mountains up there," she said.