Camp Fire 11.15.18 6:00 PM Press Conference from Silver Dollar Fairgrounds, Chico #CampFire
Posted by CAL FIRE/Butte County on Thursday, November 15, 2018
UPDATE (6:30 p.m.) – CAL FIRE reports that the Camp Fire in Butte County has grown to 141,000 acres and containment remains at 40 percent as of Thursday evening.
Seven more victims were found on Thursday, bringing the total number of dead to 63. The remains were reportedly discovered in the communities of Magalia, Paradise and Concow.
Sheriff Kory Honea says the remains of 53 victims have been identified, but their names are not yet being released.
Honea added that the number of people who may be missing following the Camp Fire has grown to 631 based on newly compiled information.
A list of the missing is available on the Butte County Sheriff’s Office website. Honea is encouraging all residents to check the list because he says many people may not realize they have been reported missing.
The number of structures destroyed in the fire now totals 11,862. At least 9,700 of those structures are single family homes.
A CAL FIRE official said at a Thursday evening press conference that investigators had identified a possible second origin of the fire but that the cause of the fire remained under investigation and no additional information would be released at this time.
UPDATE (2:15 p.m.) – A man was shot and killed after a high-speed chase with a police officer in one of the evacuation zones of the deadly Northern California wildfire.
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Thursday that the shooting happened at about 11 a.m.
Television stations KHSL/KNVN in the city of Chico reported that the shooting happened in an area near the town of Concow, which is in the zone where more than 50,000 people evacuated.
The sheriff’s office says the shooting is under investigation but no other details were provided.
At least 56 people were killed in and nearby the town of Paradise, which was leveled by the fire. Concow is next to Paradise.
(7:30 a.m.) – Hundreds of people are combing through the charred remains in Northern California where the Camp Fire broke out in Butte County.
More bodies were found Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 56, and Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea says 130 more people are listed as missing.
The number of homes razed by the fire has grown to nearly 8,800.
As of Thursday morning, the fire has charred 140,000 acres and is 40 percent contained.
More than 460 searchers and nearly two dozen cadaver dogs have been brought in to search for bodies among the ruins.
Many elderly are among the missing, and most are from Magalia, a forested town north of Paradise.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke joined California Gov. Jerry Brown Wednesday on a visit to Paradise, which was leveled by the fire. Zinke told reporters it’s the worst fire devastation he’d ever seen.
Evacuations remain in place for many.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
