Camp Fire burns 117,000 acres, containment increased to 30%

UPDATE (6:35 p.m.) – Authorities have reported 13 more fatalities from a blaze in Northern California that destroyed a town, bringing the total death toll so far to 42 and making it the deadliest wildfire in recorded state history.

The dead have been found in burned-out cars, in the smoldering ruins of their homes, or next to their vehicles, apparently overcome by smoke and flames before they could jump in behind the wheel and escape.

In some cases, there were only charred fragments of bone, so small that coroner’s investigators used a wire basket to sift and sort them. The search for bodies was continuing.

Hundreds of people were unaccounted for by the sheriff’s reckoning, four days after the fire swept over the town of 27,000 with flames so fierce that authorities brought in a mobile DNA lab and forensic anthropologists to help identify the dead.

The statewide death toll from wildfires over the past week has reached 44.

A 1933 blaze in Griffith Park in Los Angeles killed 29 people, and a series of wildfires in Northern California’s wine country last fall killed 44 people.

UPDATE (6:05 p.m.) – CAL FIRE officials say the Camp Fire in Butte County has burned 117,000 acres and is 30 percent contained as of Monday evening.

Updated numbers show more than 7,100 structures, the majority of which are homes, have been destroyed by the blaze.

Damage inspection specialists just unveiled an online damage assessment map. Residents can enter an address into the map to search for damage information in a specific location.

More than 5,100 firefighters are assigned to the fire.

UPDATE (1:15 p.m.) – Fire officials in Northern California say firefighters are battling two spot fires south of the town leveled by a blaze that has killed at least 29 people.

Cal Fire Deputy Operations Chief Monty Smith says dense, dry vegetation is fueling the spot fires Monday on each side of Lake Oroville.

A fire behavior specialist at Cal Fire, Jonathan Pangburn, said earlier that major winds combined with tinder-dry conditions helped the fire jump over the lake Sunday night.

The area near Paradise is expected to see wind gusts as high as 40 mph by Monday evening.

Smith says firefighters are working to build a contingency line to stop the fire from reaching Oroville, a town of 19,000 people.

UPDATE (8:45 a.m.) – Fire behavior specialist at Cal Fire Jonathan Pangburn says the blaze was active all night long and jumped 300-feet across a portion of Lake Oroville at least three times.

Officials say more than 4,500 firefighters are on day four of their battle against the blaze.

After a lull of strong winds that make for dangerous fire conditions, the area near Paradise will have wind gusts as high as 40 mph by Monday evening.

Full containment of the Fire is expected Nov. 30.

(AP/KSBY) – The Camp Fire in Northern California has now burned 113,000 acres and is 25 percent contained.

The latest numbers were released by fire officials Monday morning.

More than 200 people are unaccounted for and 29 people are confirmed dead. Search and rescue teams expect that number to grow as they search the area.

Ten search teams were working in the town of Paradise that was largely incinerated last week and in surrounding communities in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Authorities called in a DNA lab and teams of anthropologists to help identify victims.

More than 6,400 homes have been destroyed and several others damaged in the blaze, which broke out in Butte County Thursday morning.

Evacuations remain in place in the area.

The cause is under investigation.

#CampFire [update] Pulga Road at Camp Creek Road near Jarbo Gap (Butte County) is now 111,000 acres and 25% contained. Evacuations in place. Unified Command: @CALFIRE_ButteCo, @ButteSheriff, Paradise Police Department, and the USFS.https://t.co/CJkryyPNVZ pic.twitter.com/v3OW5Mit53

— CAL FIRE (@CAL_FIRE) November 12, 2018