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/ Source: Associated press
PARADISE, Calif. – The cost of a deadly forest fire in northern California is likely to cost billions of dollars, US Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said on Monday as he returned home. the city of Paradise, claiming that he had never witnessed such a disaster.
"There are many things I would rather spend this federal money on than repairing the damage done by destroyed items," he said. Zinke has signaled to other public services, such as improving the visitor experience of Yosemite National Park or thinning forests as options for the future. # 39; money.
No additional remains were found on Monday, but the death toll from the fire reached 88, after investigators determined that three separate sets of mortal remains had been discovered by more than one. nobody.
Butte County Sheriff, Kory Honea, said there were 203 names on the list of missing people after the camp fire that swept the rural area 140 km north of San Francisco. He published the names of 16 people who died in the fire, aged 58 to 95 years.
The pace of recently discovered remains has slowed in recent days and Honea said the researchers were making "good progress" as they methodically swept away any property where people might have died.
"The remains we are recovering now are remains that have been almost completely consumed by the fire," he said. Anthropologists are examining bone fragments to help the coroners identify the remains, he said.
Although he refused to describe the area of the area that was searched, Honea said that the heavily populated areas and places identified as possibly dead have been thoroughly searched and that research teams are now dispersing in less dense and devastated areas.
The US government has distributed more than $ 20 million to help people displaced by the catastrophic fires in northern California, said Monday a senior official of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, while hundreds of people were still looking for more human remains.
The huge forest fire that destroyed nearly 14,000 homes in the city of Paradise and the surrounding communities was completely under control over the weekend after it caught fire more than two weeks ago.
FEMA spokeswoman Frank Mansell told The Associated Press that $ 15.5 million had been spent on housing assistance, including vouchers for bedrooms. hotel. During an interview in the city of Chico, he said that disaster response was in its infancy, but that many people would eventually find long-term housing in caravans or caravans. apartments.
FEMA also distributed $ 5 million to meet other needs, including funeral expenses, he said.
About 17,000 people have registered with the Federal Disaster Agency, which will look at insurance coverage, assets and other factors to determine the amount of assistance to which they are entitled to, said Mansell.
Meanwhile, the list of missing persons increased from 1,300 to "200" on Monday, said Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea. He added that the number of volunteers looking for missing and dead people had been reduced to around 200 Monday on 500 Monday, after many of the missing persons were found over the weekend.
"We have made great progress," Honea said.
Zinke said construction restrictions in fire-prone areas should be part of discussions on forest fire protection.
"When we rebuild, it's important to have a frank discussion about the appropriateness of rebuilding each place," he told The Associated Press. He did not say that paradise should avoid rebuilding, noting that the city had widened the escape routes and would be safer with more aggressive efforts to cut thin forests and fire breaks without vegetation. who could stop the flames.
US Secretary of Agriculture, Sonny Perdue, has joined Zinke for a visit to paradise, which was decimated by the fire that declared in the arid foothills of Sierra Nevada and s & # 39; 39 is rapidly spread over 620 square kilometers.
Perdue suggested donating wood from the nearby Plumas National Forest to rebuild Paradise.
The trip from Zinke and Perdue to Paradise marks their latest in a series of efforts to promote the message that environmentalists and government red tape would hinder the reduction of forest invaded by vegetation and vegetation. Mitigating the severity of forest fires. The duo spoke to reporters during a conference call last week and Zinke promoted a similar message during a previous visit to Paradise.
The secretaries visited a woodlot plot that had been aggressively managed in recent years to eliminate flammable brushwood, and called for a relaxation of federal and state regulations requiring environmental testing before such work could take place.
"We have to get out of the litigation and get into the trade of mitigation," Perdue told the press at a news conference in a charred section of downtown Paradise.
California lawmakers approved earlier this year $ 1 billion in funding over five years for clearing operations.
The shooting intensified last week following the first major storm in California this year, which poured several inches of rain over the burning area without causing significant landslides.
Paul Elias, associate editor of the Associated Press, also contributed to this report.
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