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A bulletin board in a shelter for the many people who have fled the deadliest forest fire in California is filled with photos of the missing, as well as requests for information about relatives and friends.
"I hope you're fine," reads on the board a handwritten note filled with white and yellow notebook paper sheets. Another had the picture of a missing man: "If seen, have him call you please."
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The authorities on Tuesday announced six more casualties from the fire that hit northern California, bringing to 48 the total number of deaths so far. The death toll in forest fires last week in California was 50.
They did not reveal the total number of people missing, but at the beginning of the week they were over 200.
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said a list of missing people would be published soon and that 100 National Guard soldiers would help teams already searching for spoils.
"We want to be able to cover as much ground as quickly as possible," he said. "It's a very difficult task."
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As the authorities stepped up their efforts, people were waiting for a word on those who were still missing.
Greg Gibson was one of the readers of the bulletin board Tuesday hoping to find information about his neighbors. They were missing, but he does not know if they tried to escape or hesitated a few minutes longer than before fleeing Paradise, the city of 27,000 that was burned last Thursday. About 7,700 homes were destroyed.
"It happened so fast. It would have been such an easy decision to stay, but it was a bad choice, "said Gibson, of the Chico, CA neighborhood church.
More than 1,000 people were in evacuee shelters.
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Harold Taylor, evacuated, spoke with new friends.
Taylor, a 72-year-old Vietnamese veteran walking with a cane, said he received a call Thursday morning for an immediate evacuation. He saw the flames leap behind his house, left with the clothes on his back and barely got out.
Along the way, he tried to convince his neighbor to get in his car and evacuate with him, but the neighbor refused. He does not know what happened to his friend.
"We did not have 10 minutes to get out of there," he said. "He was already in flames in the downtown area, in all the local restaurants and in other places," he said.
The search for the dead was based on portable devices that could identify a person's genetic material in hours, instead of days or weeks.
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"In many circumstances, without fast DNA technology, the process is so long," says Frank DePaolo, deputy commissioner of the New York City Medical Examiner's Office, who is at the forefront of the science of cancer. identification of human remains since 9-11 and explores the possibilities of using a fast DNA device.
Before the Paradise tragedy, the deadliest fire ever recorded in California was caused by a fire at Griffith Park in Los Angeles in 1933, which killed 29.
At the other end of the state, firefighters have advanced in the face of the fire that killed two people in Malibu and destroyed more than 400 structures in southern California.
The flames returned to life in a mountainous wilderness on Tuesday, sending a huge plume of smoke near the community of Lake Sherwood. Still, the firefighters made gains.
A firefighter walks past the burning house in Malibu, California on Friday, November 9, 2018. A forest fire in Southern California continues to burn houses as it heads for the sea.
AP Photo / Ringo H.W. Chiu
US Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, announced that he had canceled a trip to Asia and that he would visit the fire zones Wednesday and Thursday.
The cause of the fires remained under investigation, but broke out at about the same place and location. Two utility companies reported equipment problems. Governor-elect Gavin Newsom, who took office in January, evaded questions about action against utilities if their power lines are held accountable.
People who lost their homes in northern California sued Pacific Gas & Electric Co. on Tuesday, blaming the utility of this negligence and blaming it for the fire. An e-mail to PG & E was not immediately returned.
Linda Rawlings was fishing all day with her 85 year old husband and father when the fire broke out.
READ MORE:
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His neighbors next door opened the back door so his three dogs could escape before fleeing the flames. The dogs were recovered a few days later, patiently waiting in the charred remains of their home, she said.
Rawlings learned Tuesday morning – after days of uncertainty – that her "Blue Smurf" home in Magalia had been completely burned.
She was sitting, looking shocked, on the sidewalk in front of a hotel in Corning.
"Before, you still have hope. You do not want to give up. But now, we know, "she said.
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