Travel USA
November 17, 2018
Getting You There
Camp Fire Woolsey Fire Hill Fire
Devastation: California
Camp Fire
Death Toll Rises
More than 1,000 people are unaccounted as California’s deadliest wildfire enters a second week. The death toll rose to 71 in the Camp Fire that started November 8 in Northern California. The list of people who are unaccounted for grew to 1,011 names, but that number may change once authorities follow up with families to confirm if they’ve heard from missing relatives, Butte County Sheriff and Coroner Kory Honea said Friday. In addition to the dozens killed, three other deaths were reported in the Woolsey Fire in Southern California, bringing the statewide death toll from the wildfires to 74. The Camp Fire -- the
deadliest and most destructive wildfire in state history -- has destroyed about 9,800 homes and scorched 146,000 acres (an increase of 5,000 acres Friday). It is 50% contained. Hundreds of deputies,
him. Smoke from the large wildfire has prompted several universities to cancel or postpone sporting events. That includes the University of California, Berkeley men’s basketball game Thursday
National Guard troops, anthropologists and coroners are sifting through leveled homes and mangled cars for remains. President Donald Trump is expected to visit the region Saturday. Gov. Jerry Brown and Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom plan to accompany
night, which was called off, and its football game, which was rescheduled for December 1. Honea has said investigators combined all the information they have received from callers since the fire erupted. Some names on the list appear
more than once, and it’s unclear whether others are duplicates, too, Honea said. Officials have said it’s hard to determine the number of missing. Some who may have evacuated can’t be reached because cell phone service is unreliable, while others haven’t reached out to relatives, and they may not know someone is looking for them, Honea said. “I want you to understand,” Honea said earlier this week, “that there are a lot of people displaced, and we’re finding that a lot of people don’t know that we’re looking for them.” The Butte County Sheriff ’s Office published the list on its website. If people find their names on it, Honea
said, or names of loved ones they know are safe, they’re asked to call the sheriff ’s office. For two days, Paradise police Officer Matthew Gates searched through ash and collapsed buildings for the remains of a woman. When the Camp Fire broke out, a man told Gates his mother was likely driving on a jammed roadway that hundreds used to flee the flames. But Gates couldn’t find her. Gates finally came across her at an evacuee shelter. “She had burns up her arms and I knew it was her,” the officer told CNN affiliate KRCR. “I went and gave her a hug because I’ve been looking for her body.” Authorities are trying to reach those who called 911 to verify they’ve made
contact with their loved ones, said Sgt. Steve Collins of the Butte County Sheriff ’s Office. “We’re asking people to call us if they do come in contact with their loved one so that we don’t spend time looking for somebody that’s already found.” A week after her family narrowly escaped as the Camp Fire closed in on the town of Paradise, Whitney Vaughan said she feels like giving up. Everything she and her husband, Grady, own is gone, along with a home they were renting, “a quirky older house with lots of character and lots of room” for their six kids, she said. Thankfully, her two kids and his children are able to stay with the other parents, but Vaughan said she and
her husband are essentially homeless. One night they just began driving from town to town in search of a motel. “So now we are homeless, have no money, are trying to find a place,” Vaughan said. “And if that isn’t bad enough, when I do close my eyes, I see flashbacks of the fire and the people trapped on our streets. The explosions and the screams will never be a sound that I can forget.”
Firefighter Jose Corona sprays water as flames consume a house in Magalia, California
Vaughan said she’s worried about how she’s going to explain to her 7-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son that she’ll likely have to move away while they find some level of stability. “There are just too many people in the same situation,” she said. “I don’t know what to do anymore. We have nowhere to turn. “This fire has changed us in ways I can never explain.”
Woolsey Fire
In Los Angeles and Ventura counties in Southern California, the Woolsey Fire, which broke out Nov. 8, has burned 98,362 acres, killed at least three people and destroyed an estimated 836 structures as of Saturday morning, according to Cal Fire. Another 15,000 structures are still threatened. The fire, which has prompted evacuations of entire communities, has reached 82 percent containment, the agency reported Saturday morning. How the blaze ignited remains under investigation. The Woolsey Fire began in Simi Valley and quickly spread in several directions
to threaten Malibu and other coastal communities, jumping Highway 101 in three places,
according to the Los Angeles Times. Among the evacuees are
numerous celebrities living near Malibu, including several who reported their homes have been destroyed. Among them are Miley Cyrus, Gerard Butler, Robin Thicke and Neil Young. Firefighters battling “extreme fire behavior� are focusing on protecting lives and property in steep terrain with limited access, Cal Fire reported. Three firefighters battling the blaze have been injured.