The campfire in California now almost completely under control, officials say

After more than two weeks of catastrophic infernos devouring thousands of homes and structures indiscriminately and killing many lives, the two forest fires in California are almost completely under control.

Northern California fire officials said Saturday night that the devastating fire in Butte County was under control by 98 percent just days after their counterparts in southern California announced that Woolsey fire that devastated Malibu and other areas was under 100% control.

To date, the campfire has destroyed 13,954 homes, 514 commercial properties and 4,265 other buildings, according to the latest incident report. The fire in the north killed 85 people and injured three firefighters.

NASA Worldview / EPA via Shutterstock

The Woolsey fire also injured three other firefighters, killed three people and destroyed more than 1,600 structures, according to the latest incident report related to this fire.

Satellite image / DigitalGlobe via Reuters

In total, the two wildfires devastated a total area of ​​nearly 400 km2, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Officials said the remains of at least 54 people had been positively identified so far.

The number of missing or missing people in Butte County had dropped to 475 on Friday night, after reaching 605 on Thursday, according to the Butte County Sheriff's Office. The number should continue to fluctuate as officials report to residents.

"We did not take this day off," Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said in a video message on Thanksgiving Day.

Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times / Polaris

According to Honea, 820 people were on the ground and on Thursday continued their search and rescue efforts, as well as more than 100 law enforcement officers tasked with protecting the areas evacuated as a result of the camp's fire.

A multi-agency task force, at the request of the Butte County Sheriff's Office, has captured detailed maps of aerial images of damaged properties in most of the burning areas of the City of Paradise, as well as video surveys and 360 degree drone panoramas. all major roads in the area, according to the sheriff's office.

Officials hope the maps will provide valuable information to the field search and recovery teams, the multiple agencies coordinating the response, and the residents of the community affected by the campfire.

Gene Blevins / Reuters

"This has been a difficult situation for all of us," Honea said in her video message Thursday. "We are in the same boat, we are strong in Butte County."
Essential rains flooded the burned areas on Friday and Saturday, although heavy rains brought new dangers to scarred areas of burns in the form of sudden floods and landslides.

The National Weather Service had issued a flood warning of burn zones in northern California.

Here is more information on the fires that devastated northern and southern California.

Campfire in Northern California

The campfire was declared on November 8 near Pulga, a small community in Butte County nestled in the Plumas National Forest. The fire exploded as fierce winds fanned the flames in the southwest, enveloping Paradise, a bucolic community of 27,000 in the foothills of Sierra Nevada.

The fire has virtually decimated the entire city.

Melissa Schuster, a member of Paradise City Council, said her house was one of the houses burned down by the campfire.

"Our five-member board is homeless," Schuster said in an interview on Nov. 13 in ABC News's "Start Here" podcast. "All our houses have been destroyed."

The camp's fire toll rose to 85 on Saturday after officials uncovered other bodies in the rubble and burned cars, according to the Butte County Sheriff's Office, which warned that the remains of some of the missing may never be recovered due to the severity of the fire. Thom Porter, head of strategic planning for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, said the death toll should increase as research teams continue to scrutinize the destruction.

"It's by far the most deadly fire in California," Porter said of Camp Fire.

Most deaths occurred in paradise.

"The whole community of Paradise is a toxic wasteland right now," Schuster said on November 13, holding back tears.

"On top of that, and this is the hardest part for me to talk about, the death toll is [among] things we do not know right now that need to be determined before people can go home. "

Two firefighters detained were among the three firefighters wounded during the camp's fire, officials told ABC News.

Last week, Governor Brown visited the camp's fire damage with Brock Long, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as well as US Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke.

"This is one of the worst disasters in my career that I know, hands down," Long told reporters on the spot on November 14.

The Woolsey Fire in Southern California

The Woolsey fire also caught fire on November 8 near the town of Simi Valley in Ventura County and quickly spread south to Los Angeles County. The wind-blown flames jumped on Highway 101 before sweeping the famous enclaves of Malibu and Calabasas.

The entire town of Malibu and a sprawling naval base near the seaside town of Oxnard were among the areas subject to mandatory evacuation orders, officials cautioning that the fire could potentially occur. extend to the Pacific Ocean.

Evacuation orders have since been lifted in some areas, including parts of Malibu, as firefighters have successfully expanded containment levels.

According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the Woolsey Fire, which burned a total of 96,949 acres in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, was fully under control Wednesday night.

A total of 1,500 structures were destroyed and another 341 were damaged.

The fire destroyed part of the Paramount Ranch of Agoura Hills, nicknamed "Western Town", where hundreds of movies and television shows, including

"Westworld" from HBO have been filmed since the 1920s.

At least three people were killed in the Woolsey fire and three firefighters were injured when fighting the flames, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

A public health emergency

US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar has declared a public health emergency in California, where fires forced the evacuation of at least two hospitals and eight other health facilities.

Robyn Beck / AFP / Getty Images

"We are working closely with state health authorities and monitoring the needs of health facilities to provide them with everything they may need to save lives and protect health," Azar said in a statement. "This statement will help ensure that Americans who are threatened by these dangerous fires and who rely on Medicare, Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Plan have ongoing access to the care they need."

The smoke of the flames crossed the Golden State and smothered the air in the big cities.

Smoke advisories have been issued for the affected area, fearing that the smoke from fires presents a "significant threat to the health" of people with asthma and other lung diseases, according to the US Department of Health. health and social services. Residents were asked to stay inside as much as possible and wear a face shield when they ventured out.

Berkeley Earth, a California-based non-profit organization that analyzes real-time air quality, ranked San Francisco, Stockton and Sacramento among the world's three "most polluted cities" on November 16.

David McNew / AFP / Getty Images

Meanwhile, an outbreak of norovirus has been reported in a shelter in Butte County, where the evacuees are, according to Lisa Almaguer, information officer for the Butte County Public Health Department.

People who are sick at the shelter have been taken to a separate place, use separate toilets and are treated by public health experts, according to Almaguer, who said the presence of the contagious virus was "not uncommon", particularly in this time of the year and "with hundreds of people living nearby".

Soel Loeb / AFP / Getty Images

President Trump faces unprecedented devastation

President Donald Trump arrived in California on November 17 to oversee the scene of the surreal devastation and meet firefighters, alongside California Governor Jerry Brown and state-elected governor Gavin Newsom.

The president first stopped in the city of Paradise, where he described the damage as "total devastation".

"We've never seen anything like it in California, we've never seen it before.It's like a total devastation," Trump told the press. "I think people have to really see this to understand it."

The president then went to Malibu to take stock of the Woolsey fire.

Trump pledged federal aid to California after his visit, just days after threatening to withhold state funding because of what he termed "blatant forest management".

Karine Hafuta, Marilyn Heck, Julia Jacobo and Bonnie McLean of ABC News contributed to this story.