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The burnt remains of Paradise Elementary School are seen Friday in Paradise, California. Authorities say that a forest fire has virtually destroyed the city of northern California.
Rich Pedroncelli / AP
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Rich Pedroncelli / AP
The burnt remains of Paradise Elementary School are seen Friday in Paradise, California. Authorities say that a forest fire has virtually destroyed the city of northern California.
Rich Pedroncelli / AP
Updated at 22:22 ET
California officials said nine people were killed in the burning camp camp near the small town of Paradise, California, which has a population of 27,000 and was virtually wiped off the map. buildings are in ruins.
More than 6,700 buildings were destroyed, including most homes, by the fire that burned over 90,000 acres (about 140 square miles). The campfire, which still only contains about 5% of the population, is considered the most destructive fire in the state's history.
Earlier Friday, the Butte County Sheriff's Office spoke of the first five people who were found dead.
"The preliminary investigation revealed that the victims were in vehicles blocked by the camp's fire.Because of the burns, no identification could be immediately established," the office said. a statement made public Friday.
Firefighters are trying to repel the Woolsey fire in the early hours of Friday. A day earlier, the fire broke out while the mourning residents were trying to deal with another kind of terror in Thousand Oaks, California.
Eric Thayer / Reuters
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Eric Thayer / Reuters
Firefighters are trying to repel the Woolsey fire in the early hours of Friday. A day earlier, the fire broke out while the mourning residents were trying to deal with another kind of terror in Thousand Oaks, California.
Eric Thayer / Reuters
Officials gave little details about the latest victims, except that the victims were found outside the residences, except in one case.
The Search and Rescue teams are scrambling to put patients and medical devices in the shelter while the camp's fire takes a blazing path through Paradise.
Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images
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Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images
The Search and Rescue teams are scrambling to put patients and medical devices in the shelter while the camp's fire takes a blazing path through Paradise.
Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images
Butte County Sheriff, Kory Honea, said at a press conference Friday night that he was expecting more victims. "I'm afraid it's my job to keep updating these numbers," he said.
According to Bee SacramentoThese five "unidentified victims" were found along Edgewood Lane, a dead end street in the southeast of the city, where a large influx of evacuees caused blockages and left some people running away from their vehicles. 39, others waiting. "
The cause of the fire in northern California has not been determined. However, NPR's member station, KQED, reports:
"[Utility giant PG&E] informed state control authorities that an incident occurred Thursday in a major power transmission line at a remote site in Butte County had occurred shortly before the announced start of the devastating fire of the camp. The report does not clearly state whether the damage occurred before or after the fire, and a spokesman for the company did not answer that question.
"But the location identified in the report seems to be very close to where the firefighters first encountered the fire."
The charred remains of a vehicle and a house in paradise were destroyed by the camp fire on Thursday.
Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images
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Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images
The charred remains of a vehicle and a house in paradise were destroyed by the camp fire on Thursday.
Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images
A statue stands among the rubble of a property that sinks in paradise Thursday, ravaged by the campfire.
Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images
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Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images
A statue stands among the rubble of a property that sinks in paradise Thursday, ravaged by the campfire.
Josh Edelson / AFP / Getty Images
President Trump has approved an emergency declaration for California. This allows federal aid to the state.
Strong winds drove smoke from the campfire nearly 200 miles, affecting the air quality in the San Francisco Bay Area and forcing airport officials to cancel some flights . Pedestrians usually wear face masks to minimize the smoke they inhale.
The campfire is only one of three big fires that are now cutting a fiery path through the state.
Nearly 500 miles south of Butte County, another small community was struggling to deal with a different type of trauma Thursday afternoon. Thousand Oaks was still shocked when he learned that an armed man had killed 12 victims in a cold-blooded bar, when a new danger developed a few kilometers to the east.
Unbeknownst to residents, the Woolsey fire had just caught fire within a short drive.
On Friday morning, some 75,000 households in Ventura and Los Angeles counties – and extending as far as the city of Malibu – were already under evacuation order. The forest fire, which has now burned 35,000 acres, has also been complicating the evacuation efforts taking a walk on either side of one of the main arteries of the region, the 101 Freeway.
"We know we have lost a significant number of structures," Los Angeles Times fire chief Daryl Osby said. "I would say at least 100."
Elsewhere in Ventura County, a few kilometers to the west, a third forest fire was lit less than an hour after the Woolsey fire. Now known as hill fire, this fast flame has consumed approximately 6,100 acres earthen. He forced evacuations at Naval Air Station Point Mugu and California State University in the Channel Islands, as well as in several communities near the south coast of Ventura.
In total, Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Emergency Services Bureau, explains that the three fires have forced more than 250,000 people to evacuate their homes throughout the state. Acting Governor, Gavin Newsom, also declared the state of emergency in the counties of Los Angeles, Ventura and Butte.
A local couple has recorded its own escape from the region, posting a video on Facebook reminiscent of scenes from an apocalyptic film.
"Heavenly Father, help us, help us be safe," the woman prays in the passenger seat, choking on tears as their vehicle makes its way to safety through clouds of ashes and embers.
Another resident told Jeremy Siegel of the KQED member station that while she was trying to get out of the area, "we were engulfed by the flames – both sides of the road". She had to turn around and head in another direction to escape, but all that time, it "scared me to death".
More than 2,303 firefighters are fighting the camp's fire, which, like the other two fires, has been exacerbated by conditions of intense and dry wind, in which "a single spark can cause a fire of major forest, "says the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
And Captain Bill Fire, of Cal Fire, warned that there was probably still a lot to do.
"We are in no way out of the forest with regard to the danger posed by the fire," he said. "The number of unconfined firing lines is very important."
To the south, hundreds of firefighters have the flames of Woolsey and Hill. According to Cal Fire's latest updates, none of the two southern flames were still partially under control and the Ventura County Fire Department announced that it would be deploy tactical aircraft fight fires "as far as the wind and smoke permit".
"The first part of this fuel bed had not caught fire for many years.Fuels hit by drought, Santa Ana winds, low relative humidity, high temperatures: it's a recipe for firing "said Deputy Chief of VCFD, Chad Cook, Ventura County Star.
The hot winds of Santa Ana remained strong Friday morning, with gusts as high as 70 mph forecasts in some areas around the two fires in the south. The national meteorological service do not wait the bursts will calm down later in the day. But strong winds are expected for Friday night.
According to Ventura County fire chief Mark Lorenzen, at least in the case of the hill fire, the location and direction of the fire play an advantage for firefighters.
"Fortunately for us, it burns the old print of the Springs fire, and the activity of the fires has diminished," he told reporters on Friday, adding that this had allowed crews to "Focus a little more on" Woolsey Fire instead.
People fleeing this fouled flame roads already subject to traffic. Residents reported traffic jams of several kilometers along the Pacific Coast Highway, which passes through Malibu.
Thousands of cars held out the same, trying to make their way slowly south to safer areas, all while a trail of thick gray smoke loomed on the horizon.
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