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The death toll in a California wildfire north of the capital, Sacramento, has risen to nine, Friday said the Butte County Sheriff, Korey Honea.
"It's my sad duty to confirm that we now have nine deaths," Honea told reporters.
Some 150,000 people have been evacuated and dozens have been reported missing.
The victims died in their vehicles trying to escape from an end-of-season hell in Paradise, a northern California town where the order of 26,000 residents was summoned to leave, announced officials.
"The preliminary investigation revealed that the victims were in vehicles destroyed by the camp's fire," said a statement from the Butte County Sheriff's Department, stating that they were not allowed. had not yet been identified.
Residents who managed to escape from Paradise posted poignant videos on social media while they were crossing tunnels of swirling smoke and orange flames to override the forest fire in Butte town, north of Sacramento.
The campfire, which is moving rapidly, was fanned by the high winds to burn 20,000 acres (8,093 hectares) and was not controlled, said the California Fire Department (Cal Fire).
The flames have destroyed hundreds of homes, a hospital, a gas station, several restaurants and many vehicles in paradise, officials said.
A AFP The photographer on the spot saw houses shrouded in flames, others already reduced to ashes and burned cars.
Authorities issued mandatory evacuation orders for more than 50,000 people in the scenic Sierra Nevada foothills region, including residents of Chico, a population of 93,000, near Paradise.
"The magnitude of the destruction we have seen is truly incredible and heartbreaking and our hearts go out to all those affected by this situation," said Mark Ghilarducci, director of emergency services for the California governor.
– No house left standing –
California's elected governor, Gavin Newsom, has declared the state of emergency to provide badistance to the areas affected by the fire.
A spokesman for Cal Fire said nearly 2,000 buildings have been razed in paradise. Among the evacuees were all patients from the Feather River Hospital in Paradise.
More than 2,200 firefighters battled the fire, supported by helicopters and water tanks.
"It was a fast-moving fire," Honea told Chico Enterprise-Record. "And he pbaded very, very quickly from a rather remote area to a populated area."
"The whole lower part of heaven is totally in flames right now," said Kevin Winstead, a resident of nearby Magalia, at KIEM TV. "All of this is in flames right now.
"Not a house will stay standing," he said. "I am devastated."
"We only hope that our new house we were hoping to move into tomorrow is not completely destroyed," Winstead said. "We are a little shaking right now."
Authorities said nearly 105,000 people were evacuated in southern California.
The "Woolsey Fire" in Ventura County has triggered evacuation orders in parts of the city of Thousand Oaks, where a Marine Corps veteran shot dead 12 people in a country music bar on Wednesday. evening.
Some of the first responders who rushed to the scene of the second mbad fire in less than two weeks in the United States also contributed to fire-related tasks.
– & # 39; I pray that everyone is safe & # 39; –
The Ventura County Fire Department said the fire had burned about 3,237 hectares and that evacuation orders had been issued for some 88,000 homes in Ventura and Los Counties. Angeles.
"It's vital that locals pay close attention to evacuation orders," the Los Angeles County Fire Department said on Twitter. "It's a very dangerous fire caused by the wind."
The "Woolsey Fire" crossed Highway 101 near the town of Agoura Hills and sections of the main north-south coastal artery were closed, resulting in mandatory evacuations, including the entire town of Malibu.
The resort is one of the most sought after locations in California for Hollywood stars seeking luxury and privacy. It houses Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry, Charlize Theron, Brad Pitt and many other celebrities.
The reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, who lives just north of Malibu's Calabasas coast, revealed on Instagram that she had been forced to flee her home.
"We have just returned home and had an hour to pack and evacuate our house, and I pray that everyone will be safe," she said.
The actress Alyssa Milano, one of Kardashian's neighbors in Calabasas, wrote on Twitter that she had also been evacuated.
"The horses are finally safe, my children are safe, my house is under threat, but … everything that is heart-beaten is safe," she said.
Director Guillermo del Toro revealed on Twitter that Bleak House, his museum of horror film memorabilia, was also on the road to the flames.
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