Death toll rises in California wildfires
The death toll from wildfires raging in California rose to 31 after six more people were found killed in what was poised to become the deadliest wildfire in state history.
Officials said the bodies of five people were found in burned-out homes and the sixth was found in a vehicle in northern California's Camp Fire, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told reporters on Sunday evening.
Some 228 people are still unaccounted for, Honea said, while another 137 people have been located after friends or relatives reported being unable to contact them.
The so-called Camp Fire in the northern part of the state has claimed at least 29 lives since it broke out on Thursday. Hundreds of miles to the south, at least two people have died in the Woolsey Fire threatening the wealthy beach community of Malibu, near Los Angeles.
Looting was reported in the southern fire area and arrests were made, police reported.
Hot dry winds expected to blow until Tuesday whipped up the flames and heightened the urgency of evacuation orders, officials said. It has been more than 210 days since the area received half an inch or more of rain, making it easy for spot fires to spread to fresh patches of tinder-dry vegetation, fire officials said on Sunday.
"We are entering a new normal," said Ventura County Fire Chief Mark Lorenzen, noting at a news conference that California's fires in 2018 grow far more quickly than they did even 10 years ago.
Published: by Radio NewsHub