Authorities found 14 more bodies Saturday after a wildfire tore through a Northern California community, raising to 23 the death toll from the Camp Fire, which destroyed the town of Paradise, the county sheriff said late Saturday.
Earlier, two people were found dead in a car in Malibu as a fire forced the evacuation of that city’s entire population.
The announcement Saturday brings to 25 the number of people who have died in this current batch of wildfires: the Woolsey and smaller Hill Fire in southern California, and the Camp Fire in northern California.
Looting arrests
Two arrests were also made for looting in Ventura County.
L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Chief John Benedict said at a news conference Saturday, “There is zero tolerance for any looting.”
In Ventura County, Sergeant Eric Buschow announced the looting arrests Saturday. He said the two arrests were made in separate incidents and warned, “If you come here with the intent of taking advantage of the situation, we will arrest you and you will go to jail.”
The Woolsey Fire is threatening about 75,000 homes in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles. The county is also the location of a mass shooting this week that killed 12 people.
Mass evacuations
The mayor of the city of Thousand Oaks, where the mass shooting took place, says that three-quarters of his city is under fire evacuation orders.
The entire upscale beach town of Malibu has been evacuated, and an historic movie site where Westerns were filmed has been destroyed. Celebrities who live in the area, such as reality star Kim Kardashian West and musician Lady Gaga have been tweeting their concern for their homes and neighbors. Actor Martin Sheen told a local news reporter that he and his wife would probably sleep in their car Friday night.
The Woolsey Fire and the Hill Fire erupted Thursday night, fueled by drought conditions and the Santa Ana winds.
Trump weighs in
U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted about the fires Saturday, blaming California officials. He said the fires are the result of “gross mismanagement of the forests” and threatened to withhold federal money. He did not mention California’s drought conditions.
“There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!”
These California fires are expanding very, very quickly (in some cases 80-100 acres a minute). If people don’t evacuate quickly, they risk being overtaken by the fire. Please listen to evacuation orders from State and local officials!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2018
Scientist responds
LeRoy Westerling, a climate and fire scientist at University of California Merced, told the San Francisco Chronicle Trump’s tweet on Saturday oversimplified the issue in California.
“To have a president come out and say it’s all because of forest management is ridiculous. It completely ignores the dynamic of what’s going on around us,” he told the Chronicle. He said rising temperatures and longer spells of dry weather were behind an increase in not only the number of wildfires but their ferocity as well.
Most deadly in history
Officials said the Camp Fire has become the most destructive wildfire in state history, and the third deadliest.
Previously, the Tubbs Fire, which burned nearly 40,000 acres in Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties in 2017, had been considered the most destructive wildfire in state history. The Tubbs Fire killed 22 pepole and destroyed more than 5,500 structures.
The Butte County Sheriff’s office said the victims were mostly found dead inside or near their cars. The sudden evacuation led to highway gridlock, forcing some to flee on foot.
Officials said the fire has destroyed 6,453 homes and another 260 commercial structures and has grown to 404 square kilometers.
The blaze, which broke out Thursday along with the southern California fires, nearly quadrupled Thursday into Friday. Officials say the blaze is only 5 percent contained.
Dozens of people are reported missing.
State of emergency
Evacuations were ordered for the east side of the neighboring town of Chico, a city of about 93,000 people, as flames from the blaze were being driven by 56 kph winds.
California has declared a state of emergency in the northern part of the state to help facilitate rescue and recovery efforts in what has been one of the worst years for wildfires in the state.
– VOA
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