As the California campfire fades, rain and wind create new fears: NPR

In Northern California, search teams continue to search the burnt city of Paradise more than two weeks after the start of the fire, which claimed the lives of 84 people and charred an area larger than the city of Chicago .

The researchers say it will take them several more days to examine the more than 20,000 structures that the camp fire engulfed in this working-class community in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The driving around paradise is a dark and haunting scene, made even more sinister by the dark clouds and the falling rain.

The shells of burnt cars dot thousands of unique homes burned to the ground. Buildings and objects spared from the flames scattered in the apocalyptic scene: a community theater unscathed, a solitary rocking chair, the statue of a bear bearing a sign "Welcome to paradise" in front of the trash of & dquo; A hell. The air remains smoky and the city of Paradise is still closed to the public.

The most deadly and destructive fire in California's history is almost completely extinguished, just as the search operation is coming to an end.

But the final phase of the research is to deal with a storm moving in the region, creating additional challenges for emergency teams.

With heavy showers and strong winds in the forecast, officials are monitoring the risks of mudslides and debris along the incinerated hills. They are very vigilant about the possibility that a huge amount of ash from burnt structures mixes with the rain to form a toxic slush that could flow into local watercourses.

"Think of everything you have at home, all the cleaning products, if you are a fan of cars, you have your grease, your gasoline, your solvents, all of which are now mixed in a dangerous mixture." soup, "said Brian Vidosh, a recovery mission security officer, who recently briefed crew members at the central command post of a fire in Chico, California. Let's hope that most foundations retain it. "

Vidosh asked the researchers to stay away from parts of paradise along the steep slopes because of the persistence of rain and winds.

Aviva Braun, a meteorologist with the National Meteorological Service, who helped Paradise's research teams, said that in some of these heavily wooded areas, bands of tall trees now dead from the flames are hanging by a wire.

"And stronger winds can really knock down the wind, so these danger trees already weakened by rain and wind can really cause problems for people standing underneath," said Braun. "That's why we insist that these trees can fall."

At the current pace, officials said Friday that the search was to be completed by Tuesday, with teams of investigators entering the last parts of the 240-square-kilometer landscape that burned.

But with more than 600 still missing, Vidosh said Butte County officials will soon have to make tough decisions.

He added that corpses' dogs roamed the area affected by the wild fire to locate human remains, although there was no chance of tracing each victim.

"What we're looking for at this point are the last stages of cremation – the small bones, so it's really hard, at some point there will be people who will just disappear," he said. Vidosh.

For days, officials warned of potential landslides, and none have been reported so far. That said, with about 2 inches of rain falling on Friday and additional showers expected this weekend, the barren hills may soon be submerged, unable to absorb water and become more of a breeding ground. Water to carry mud, burnt trees and others. debris left as a result of the fire.

"We call it the lost skin, but the way the fire went through, there is nothing left on the hill, fortunately for now, the saturation has not occurred yet. The hills are still standing, "said Vidosh, noting that there is so much can be done to avoid landslides looming.

"For me, it's not so … that's when," he says.

Meanwhile, emergency officials are still addressing the long-term housing problem for the thousands displaced by the campfire.

Representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said that 15,000 households around Paradise were enrolled for assistance. And FEMA has distributed more than $ 9 million to evacuees who would stay in hotels and apartments for up to a month, when determining what happens next.

The fire broke out on November 8 in a mountainous area near the city of Paradise and quickly swamped the wooded area north of Sacramento.

The officials have neither determined nor speculated on what could have ignited the fire.