Death toll rises to 79 in California wildfires

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The death toll from the devastating California wildfires, the deadliest in the state's history, has climbed to 79 as two more bodies have been retrieved, said a local official.

The number unaccounted for has dropped to around 700.

An aerial photo shows burned neighborhood in Paradise, California, November 15, 2018. /VCG Photo

At least three other people have died in southern California in another blaze dubbed the Woolsey Fire.

On Wednesday, the Butte County Sheriff's Office released a partial list of the missing, and the majority of them are over the age of 65.

A cadaver dog searches through properties as search and rescue crews look for human remains in Paradise, California, US, November 14, 2018. /VCG Photo

More than 8,800 buildings, most of them houses, burned to the ground in and around Paradise, and an estimated 50,000 people remain under evacuation orders.

Butte County Investigator Tiffany Larson (2nd R) joins members of the Alameda County Sheriff's Department in searching for victims of the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, US, November 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

The footprint of fire grew to 135,000 acres (55,000 hectares) as of Wednesday, even though diminished winds and rising humidity allowed firefighters to carve containment lines around more than a third of the perimeter.

"Progress is being made," said Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

"This is one of the worst disasters I've seen in my career, hands down," said Brock Long, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Flames from the Camp Fire burn near a home atop a ridge near Big Bend, California, US, November 10, 2018. /VCG Photo

The killer blaze, fueled by thick, drought-desiccated scrub, has capped two back-to-back catastrophic wildfire seasons in California that scientists largely attribute to prolonged drought they say is symptomatic of climate change.

But lawyers for some of the victims are pointing to lax maintenance by an electric utility as the proximate cause of the fire, which officially remains under investigation.

The Butte County disaster coincided with a flurry of blazes in Southern California, most notably the Woolsey Fire, which has killed at least two people, destroyed more than 400 structures and displaced about 200,000 people in the mountains and foothills near the Malibu coast west of Los Angeles.

（With inputs from AFP）

Source(s): Reuters