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Victims mourned as toll hits 77 in California wildfire
PARADISE, United States, Nov 19, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The toll from the
deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California’s history rose further
on Sunday to 77, the sheriff’s office said, after a vigil to honor the
victims.
“One human remain was located today,” raising the toll by one in the so-
called Camp Fire which broke out 10 days earlier in northern California, a
statement from the Butte County Sheriff said, following US President Donald
Trump’s visit on Saturday to survey the devastation.
On Sunday, mourners gathered at First Christian Church in Chico, near the
incinerated community of Paradise, to hold a tearful vigil for the fire’s
victims.
“We will rise from the ashes,” said a sign on the altar of the church,
where survivors embraced, and one woman carried a picture of her father who
died.
“Of the 77 fatalities, we have tentatively identified 67 individuals,” the
sheriff’s office said.
The number of people unaccounted for has fallen to 993, from a peak that
exceeded 1,200, the statement added.
Another three people died in a second major blaze that struck the more
well-off Malibu area adjacent to Hollywood, where the film industry paid
tribute to the fire victims on Sunday night at its annual honorary Oscars
event.
“Many thousands of our fellow Americans are homeless,” the president of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, John Bailey, said in his opening
address to the annual Governors Awards ceremony.
Fire also hit Paramount Ranch, which hosts a screening of silent films.
“Some of our own history was lost,” Bailey said.
Further north, more than 10,000 homes have been destroyed in the Camp Fire
blaze which has devoured an area roughly the size of Chicago, and essentially
wiped Paradise off the map.
Thousands fled and many found temporary refuge at churches or in tents.
The National Weather Service said low humidity and gusty winds would
continue across portions of California through Monday but the pattern could
change.
The forecast for the Paradise area called for rain by Tuesday night,
becoming heavy on Wednesday — a day before the major annual American
celebration of Thanksgiving.
– Disappointment –
During his visit Trump trod through ash, flanked by skeletal trees and
twisted cars, seemingly shocked by the intensity of what he witnessed.
He met firefighters, local leaders and the state’s Democratic Governor
Jerry Brown, but some victims expressed disappointment that he did not talk
to them.
“I heard he was in town, heard he left, but he’s… I’m sorry, he’s not
going to get my vote next time,” Cliff Trophies, a market gardener wearing a
thick white moustache and a baseball cap, said in Chico.
Reviving an earlier controversy, Trump repeated his claim that California
had mismanaged its forests and was largely to blame for the fires.
“I’m committed to make sure that we get all of this cleaned out and
protected, (we’ve) got to take care of the forest, it’s very important,”
Trump said in Paradise.
Days earlier Trump had threatened to cut federal funding to California over
its alleged “gross mismanagement” of forests.
Brian Rice, president of California Professional Firefighters, called
Trump’s earlier remarks “ill-informed”, noting the federal government had cut
spending on forest management.
The president also inspected the damage from the Malibu-area fire.
California, the largest and wealthiest US state, is regularly plagued by
wildfires, but the Camp Fire has been unprecedented.
After burning 150,000 acres (61,000 hectares) the Camp Fire is now 65
percent contained and will not be fully under control until month’s end, said
the California fire service, which has deployed more than 5,000 personnel and
28 helicopters in the battle.
BSS/AFP/RY/1705 hrs