Number Of Missing People Drops To Below 700 As Death Toll Continues To Rise In California’s Deadliest Fire
The Camp Fire has destroyed more than 15,000 structures, including more than 11,700 homes, according to the Monday evening incident report. As survivors begin returning home, media outlets report on updates from the scene of the disaster, from evacuees' rough living conditions to the transmission line that may be linked to the blaze.
Sacramento Bee:
Camp Fire Update: 79 Now Dead, 699 Still Unaccounted For
The number of reported dead in Butte County’s Camp Fire increased by two Monday, bringing the total to 79, Cal Fire said in an incident report. One of the human remains found Monday was located in a structure in Paradise; the other was located outside in Magalia, according to a press release from the Butte County Sheriff’s office. Of the 79 dead, 64 have been tentatively identified, according to the release. (Darden, 11/19)
The Washington Post:
With Disease In Shelters And Hotels At Capacity, Wildfire Evacuees Desperately Seek Refuge
The main exhibit hall at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds here has become the home of last resort for 68 people who fled the fires that swept through a broad swath of forest and hill towns nearby. And some days, an ambulance shows up. A team of paramedics, wearing protective masks and disposable yellow plastic aprons, wheeled a sick man out of the exhibit hall Monday on a stretcher, another victim of the bitter repercussions of mass displacement that the Camp Fire has created. (Sellers, Wilson and Craig, 11/19)
Los Angeles Times:
Thousands Of Homes Incinerated But Trees Still Standing: Paradise Fire’s Monstrous Path
Driving toward Paradise on the afternoon of Nov. 8, Jonathan Pangburn was less worried about the flames burning through the forest than he was about the smoke. Black and thick, it billowed over the road like a dangerous fog, cutting visibility to less than three feet in places. A member of the incident management team with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Pangburn knew the signs. Gray smoke meant vegetation. Black smoke meant homes, possibly entire city blocks. The Camp fire was no longer just a wildland fire. (Curwen and Serna, 11/20)
Los Angeles Times:
California Fires: Trump Administration Now Blames Devastation On 'Radical Environmentalists'
The political battle between the Trump administration and California over blame for the the devastating wildfires that have killed scores and left nearly 1,000 missing continued Monday. U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke blamed the state’s fires on “radical environmentalists” who he said have prevented forest management. (Reyes-Velarde and Serna, 11/19)
San Jose Mercury News:
Camp Fire: PG&E Power Line Linked To Blaze Had 2012 Problem
In December 2012, a fierce winter storm toppled five steel towers that support the same PG&E transmission line that malfunctioned minutes before the Camp Fire roared to life. Now, six years later, the 115,000-volt Caribou-Palermo transmission line near Poe Dam and the tiny resort town of Pulga is again under the microscope. PG&E reported damage to it around 6:15 a.m. Nov. 8, about 15 minutes before flames were first reported under the high-tension wires, according to a regulatory filing and firefighter radio traffic. Another transmission line in nearby Concow also malfunctioned a half hour later, possible sparking a second fire. (Gafni, 11/19)
San Francisco Chronicle:
Stunned Residents Start Returning To Paradise In Fire’s Terrible Aftermath
A handful of residents returned to their homes in the burn zone Monday, among the first allowed back since the Camp Fire tore through town Nov. 8, some walking up to unscathed houses while friends and neighbors stood in disbelief in front of piles of ash and twisted metal. (Thadani, Sernoffsky and Tucker, 11/19)
California Healthline:
Paradise Lost: Wildfire Chases Seniors From Retirement Havens To Field Hospitals
After barely getting out of Paradise alive before the Camp Fire turned her town to ash, Patty Saunders, 89, now spends her days and nights in a reclining chair inside the shelter at East Ave Church 16 miles away. It hurts too much to move. She needs a hip replacement and her legs are swollen. Next to her is a portable commode, and when it’s time to go, nurses and volunteers help her up and hold curtains around her to give her some measure of privacy. (Rinker, 11/19)
Capital Public Radio:
California Offers Safe Space For Firefighters To Work Through Stress And Trauma
On the morning of his 23rd birthday, Leonel Salas is just getting off the fireline after battling the Woolsey fire all night in Southern California. "[We] can't get any rest while we're on the lines," he says.He's exhausted after working for 24 hours, but relieved to be at the base camp in Camarillo where there are hot meals, sleeping pods and mobile showers. (Perry, 11/17)
