Death toll from Camp Fire in Paradise swells to 23; 100 still missing

[Liberty Belle]

Last edited Sun Nov 11, 2018, 12:19 PM - Edit history (1)

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune

The death toll from the most destructive fire in California history surged to 23 people on Saturday night, with more than 100 still missing in Butte County, officials said.

The 14 more bodies were discovered Saturday, and fire crews are still searching through the burn area for more victims.

More than 6,700 homes and commercial buildings have been lost in Butte County, making it the most destructive fire to property in state history. Huge swaths of the town of Paradise were lost.

On Saturday, officials said the fire was still threatening Stirling City and Paradise Pines and headed toward Oroville. Defenses placed outside the city of Chico appear to be holding.

Read more: http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/

---

This is heartbreaking. The Twitter hashtag #CampFire is filled with photos of missing loved ones people are looking for, as well as pets. I fear the toll will climb much higher.

Firefighters say this fire still has explosive potential and those in areas like Oroville should be prepared to evacuate quickly if need be.

Meanwhile in Southern Calif., firefighters are bringing the Hill Fire under control, which only burned a couple of structures, but the Woolsey Fire in L.A. and Ventura Counties is still raging out of control and has burned many homes. They had to evacuate part of the LA Zoo today and Pepperdine College, though both are safe tonight.

Some celebrities lost homes and others, notably Lady Gaga, are evacuated. I hope they will give a benefit concert for the victims of these terrible fires.

[YOHABLO]

1. I'm scratching my head. So they're naming fires now like they do hurricanes?

[Liberty Belle]

2. fires in CA are named for geographic features or places where the fire started.

The hashtags on Twitter are very useful for finding all info on any given fire quickly.

Only trouble is sometimes names get reused, so you have to be sure you're finding the current fire, not one from a past year in maybe another location with same place name.

you don't have to be a Twitter subscriber to view these. Just go to Twitter and type #CampFire or whatever fire you want to look up in the search bar.

[Rhiannon12866]

3. Thanks so much for the information!

I did not know that!

[C Moon]

4. There are usually several going on at one time (during the peak season), so they give them names.

[Rhiannon12866]

5. That makes sense, of course

I'm on the East Coast, so I didn't know. And it sends me over the edge that these aren't the top stories on the news right now - and that the government isn't sending them all the aid that they need right now!

[Harker]

7. Geographical names do make sense.

Applying people's names has spread to naming snowstorms now.

I think it's a poor idea to anthropomorphize weather events. Having relatives killed by "Mike", for example, forever taints that name for many.

Can't hear "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves without negative connotations, either, though not a favorite.

It's not cute to name destructive storms.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

8. Named snowstorms? Yeah, I got caught in one May 2017.

Snowstorm Valerie was chasing me in N.W. Wyoming, out of Yellowstone. I was relieved to get to a lower elevation where it was "just" wind, rain, lightning. A day later, and we would have been stuck in a foot or more of snow. I kept eyeballing those gates that can get lowered across the freeway, forcing traffic to take an exit to nowhere.

[Harker]

9. Never been in Wyoming during winter

but the snow fences and those gates you mentioned gave me an idea what it would be like in a blizzard there. Nasty.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

13. Winter? This was the middle of May! Do they ever get summer?

Before the snow came, the hills were green with new spring growth, outstanding views. The brown deer stood out, no camouflage. I've heard the grass turns brown in the summer, and I'm sure the deer appreciate that bit of concealment.

[Harker]

14. Fifty years in Colorado...

and only two weeks total in the "Far North." Yellowstone in Autumn and a couple drives through to Bozeman in Spring.

I love Wyomings's geography. There are places, though...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_Summer_Mountains

[hlthe2b]

10. Meh... Those of us in the West just remember the bad ones by the Year..

Naming them seems just wrong...

[Harker]

15. Right...

That tree-downer in the Spring of '92 is a standout for me.

I was in Salzburg, reading in the local paper about a Colorado snowstorm while drinking Stieglbier in the sunshine.

When I got home, I noticed my favorite aspen in the front yard had adopted a horizontal attitude.

[Liberty Belle]

16. As a reporter the names are very helpful to discern among multple fires at the same time.

And as noted, the Twitter feeds are useful to people seeking shelters when one fills, reuniting separated families, or just seeking the latest info on the fire's progress and firefighters' progress in suppressing these monsters.

[hlthe2b]

17. My comment was in response to snowstorms, not wildfires.

In response to this post:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=2199455

[xxqqqzme]

6. The local coverage

has been phenomenal. Seeing the large glowing embers fly by on the wind gusts is so scary. It is easy to see how the fires spread so quickly.

[hlthe2b]

11. My late grandmother lived for a while in Paradise and Chico. I never got to visit, but

the destruction there and the total evacuation of Malibu has me not feeling so comfortable that even those communities along the CO front range, but not directly in the foothills will not likewise be at risk some time in the future. As horrific as seeing mountain towns and communities face it, the threat is only going to increase, impacting far more populous areas.

[Sunlei]

12. most destructive fire in California history & next year even worse as no wild grazers remain

to eat(in spring) that dry as a old bone (in fall winds)-"cheat grass"

[NickB79]

18. Seems like the fire season in CA is now year-round

Welcome to catastrophic climate change.

[Stuart G]

19. k. and r. nt.