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By Tim Stelloh
Fatal fires burning in northern and southern California have killed 31 people throughout the state and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people.
The dark discovery of the mortal remains of six people in the city of Paradise, Northern California, brought to 29 the total number of deaths related to the fire, which corresponds to the deadliest fire of the state's history, authorities said Sunday.
Five bodies in paradise were found in homes and one in a vehicle, Butte County Sheriff Kory L. Honea told reporters.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Cal Fire, the camp fire, considered the most destructive in the history of the state, burned more than 6,000 homes and burned 111,000 acres .
Honea said more than 200 people were still missing after the fire, although many missing people may be in shelters and unable to contact relatives who reported them to the authorities.
Twenty-nine people also died during the Griffith Park fire in 1933, according to Cal Fire.
"We came out of the clouds in the sun and could see flames on the ridge, absorbing everything that touched them," said Joanna Garcia, who quickly fled the fire with her family on Thursday.
"You never think that you are going out of these flames," she added.
The Woolsey fire in southern California also burned 85,000 acres on Sunday – Thousand Oaks, a city still under fire from a shooting that killed 12 people in the rich coastal enclave from Malibu. It was only 15% content on Sunday night.
In addition to killing two people, the fire has threatened nearly 60,000 structures and forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of residents, officials said. On Sunday afternoon, Calabasas, a town of 24,000 inhabitants, sent a mandatory evacuation order. In some areas of Thousand Oaks, evacuation orders were lifted and residents were allowed to return home.
The houses of stars were among the 177 structures destroyed by the fire. Actor Gerard Butler posted on social media a photo of his burned house in Malibu, calling this moment "ripping through California".
Good news has been given, however: after Sunday's return of hot, dry winds from Santa Ana – which blow from the desert to the southern coast of California – forest fires have been reported – fire officials have reported There had been no new reports of burned buildings. And the firefighters were able to contain the explosions in the windy canyons.
"Today 's day has been very difficult, but we have had tremendous success," Daryl Osby, Los Angeles County Fire Chief, told reporters Sunday afternoon.
Even so, vast tracts of the state remained under the red flag warning, a designation used by the National Meteorological Service to indicate ideal conditions for wildfires. Mark Ghilarducci, director of the California Emergency Services Bureau, announced Sunday nearly 150,000 people subject to mandatory evacuation orders throughout the state.
With wind forecasts at 40 mph in southern California until Tuesday, new evacuations are possible, said Sgt. Eric Bouche of Ventura County Sheriff.
Similar wind conditions were also expected in most of northern California until Monday, according to the National Weather Service.
The camp fire started early Thursday morning and quickly crossed the town of Paradise, which has about 26,000 inhabitants, at the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Nichole Jolly, a surgical nurse at the Feather River Health Adventist Hospital, said she started her work day as another, then received an immediate evacuation order about an hour later and rushing to leave the living city.
With flames on either side of her car – and a taxi filled with smoke – she said she dropped the vehicle.
"I called my husband and shouted," said Jolly, 34. "I said: I think I'm going to die. Tell the children that I love them. I will not go home. "
With his shoes melting and his throat burning, Jolly stumbled on a fire truck and knocked on the door.
"Two firefighters jumped out of the truck, turned off my pants, put me in the fire truck, wrapped me in a blanket and said," Prepare to not get there, "a- she declared.
Mayor Jody Jones said 80 to 90 percent of residents in Paradise's residential neighborhoods had lost their homes.
Authorities have reported that many of the bodies were found inside houses or in cars overflowing with fire. NBC affiliate, KCRA, has announced that a mobile DNA lab and anthropologists have been asked to help identify the dead.
Cal Fire said he did not expect the fire to be controlled by 25% Sunday, under full control until the end of the month.
In southern California, firefighters were mostly surrounded by another potentially dangerous fire, the Hill Fire, which forced evacuations into the country of Ventura and destroyed two buildings.
The fire also erupted on Thursday and spread to mobile homes and mansions as it spread rapidly, NBC reported. Two people found dead inside a vehicle on Mulholland Drive may have died after the driver became disoriented and the vehicle was on fire, said Los Angeles County Sheriff Commander Scott Gage.
The fires occurred after years of drought and increasingly deadly and destructive fire seasons. Fire officials and climatologists have partly attributed these fires to climate change, saying the state's fire season could now be open year-round.
California Governor Jerry Brown stressed this point at a press conference Sunday night, calling this prolonged period of fire danger a "new abnormal".
"This new anomaly will certainly continue in the next 10 to 15 years," he said. "And unfortunately, the best science tells us that drought, heat, drought – all these things will intensify."
Kalhan Rosenblatt and Rachel Elbaum contributed.
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