[ad_1]
By Terray Sylvester
PARADISE, Calif. (Reuters) – The search for victims of the deadliest fire in California's history has intensified on Thursday, as the White House announced that President Donald Trump, who blamed the state's fires for the mismanagement of the forestry authorities, would surrender Saturday.
Teams worked in the city of Paradise a week after cremation, while 56 people were confirmed dead at Camp Fire in northern California.
More than 9,000 people from many US states are fighting this fire, as well as the Woolsey fire, hundreds of miles to the south.
The authorities attributed the high number of casualties to the staggering speed with which the wind-blown flames incinerated Paradise. Nearly 8,700 houses were destroyed and 15,500 buildings threatened, said Thursday the California Department of Forests and Fire Protection (Cal Fire).
Cal Fire said that 40% of the camp fires had been contained, compared to 35% previously, while the fire had increased from 2,000 acres to 140,000 acres (57,000 hectares).
The White House said Trump would meet people displaced by the fires. It sparked controversy over the weekend with a tweet that said: "There is no reason for these massive, deadly and expensive forest fires in California, if it's only the management of the forest is so poor. "
Trump accused the fires of "blatant mismanagement of the forests" and said: "Remedy now, or more payments from the Fed!"
US National Guard troops are located in Paradise, a town of about 27,000 in the foothills of the Sierra, about 280 km north of San Francisco, in search of the remains of the victims. One hundred and thirty people, most of whom were over 65, were still missing.
The authorities are concerned that some of the elderly residents may have been left behind in an attempt to escape the rapidly-developing flames. At least 22 dead dogs are part of the search.
Local, national and federal agencies involved in the fight against fire have scheduled a press conference at 18h. PST.
Those who survived the flames but lost their homes adapted to the lifestyle of the refugees and many found refuge in a Walmart in Paradise still open. Part of the store's car park has been converted into a clothing, food and coffee distribution center, while people who have fled their homes have installed dozens of tents in a nearby field or slept in their car on the ground. car park. Portable toilets were brought.
The evacuees in the car park had to cope with morning temperatures that dropped to mid-30s and many wore respirators to protect themselves from the lingering smoke.
Nicole and Eric Montague, along with their 16-year-old daughter, went to the Walmart car park to get free food, but live with their extended family in Chico, about 20 km away, in a one-bedroom apartment. room for 15 people and nine dogs.
"WE DO NOT HAVE TIME"
They said that they were aware that a fire was heading for Paradise over the last week but that they were amazed at how quickly it arrived.
"We have not had time to react," Eric said. "The news did not even know the fire was going to come in. It happened so fast."
Nicole said that she had decided to run away once the mailbox of her house had caught fire and that the neighbors' propane tanks had begun to explode. With the approach of flames and real estate traffic, her evacuation with her daughter was so painful that she called Eric to tell him that they were going to die.
"I called him and I said:" Honey, I'm not going to get there, I love you, "says Nicole.
Governor Jerry Brown, US Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, and the US Secretary of the Interior, as well as other officials who visited the devastation on Wednesday and had to go to the scene from the fire Woolsey Thursday.
The Paradise Police Department stepped up their patrols after arresting three people accused of looting. Sergeant Steve Bertagna told KRCR TV that the department relied on equipment from other police departments and was using a generator.
Thirteen of the department's thirty officers lost their homes, KRCR television reported.
The fire, fueled by a thick scrubland parched by drought, has crowned two consecutive catastrophic forest fires in California that scientists largely attribute to a prolonged drought, symptomatic of climate change.
The strong winds calmed down, Cal Fire director Ken Pimlott told reporters on Wednesday, but the vegetation around the campfire remained extremely dry and the weather was dangerous.
The Butte County disaster coincided with fires in southern California, including the Woolsey fire, which killed at least two people, destroyed more than 500 buildings and displaced a whopping 200,000 people. West of Los Angeles.
Cal Fire said that the Woolsey fire was under control at about 57 percent Thursday against 52 percent, and that some mandatory evacuation orders in Ventura County were lifted. The crews fighting the fire were hoping to be helped by Thursday's weather, with light winds on the coast that should bring slightly cooler temperatures and higher humidity levels.
The campfire is also one of the deadliest forest fires in the United States since the 19th century. More than 80 people perished in the Big Burn fire storm that swept the northern Rockies in August 1910, occupying 3 million acres.
(GRAPHIC: Fatal Fires in California – https://tmsnrt.rs/2Plpuui)
(Additional Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee, Jonathan Allen in New York, Nick Carey and Bill Trott, edited by Raissa Kasolowsky and Steve Orlofsky)
Source link
