|
Alameda
County
Sheriff's
deputy
A. Gogna
searches
for
victims
of the
Camp
Fire on
Monday,
Nov. 12,
2018.
(AP
Photo/Noah
Berger) |
|
Dogs and
DNA:
Search
for
California
fire
victims
intensifies
By
MARTHA
MENDOZA
and
GILLIAN
FLACCUS
APNews.com
PARADISE,
Calif. -
Authorities
moved to
set up a
rapid
DNA-analysis
system
and
bring in
cadaver
dogs,
mobile
morgues
and more
search
teams in
an
intensified
effort
to find
and
identify
victims
of the
deadliest
wildfire
in
California
history,
an
inferno
that
killed
at least
42
people.
Five
days
after
flames
all but
obliterated
the
Northern
California
town of
Paradise,
population
27,000,
officials
were
unsure
of the
exact
number
of
missing.
But the
death
toll was
all but
certain
to rise.
“I
want to
recover
as many
remains
as we
possibly
can, as
soon as
we can.
Because
I know
the toll
it takes
on loved
ones,”
Butte
County
Sheriff
Kory
Honea
said
Monday
night as
he
announced
the
discovery
of 13
more
dead.
More
than a
dozen
coroner
search-and-recovery
teams
looked
for
bodies
across
the
apocalyptic
landscape
that was
once
Paradise,
while
anxious
relatives
visited
shelters
and
called
police
and
hospitals
in hopes
of
finding
loved
ones.
Lisa
Jordan
drove
600
miles
(1,000
kilometers)
from
Yakima,
Washington,
to
search
for her
uncle,
Nick
Clark,
and his
wife,
Anne,
who
lived in
Paradise.
Anne
Clark
has
multiple
sclerosis
and
cannot
walk.
Jordan
said no
one
seemed
to know
whether
they
were
able to
get out
or
whether
their
house
was
still
standing.
“I’m
staying
hopeful,”
she
said.
“Until
the
final
word
comes,
you keep
fighting
against
it.”
Authorities
said
they
were
bringing
in two
mobile
morgue
units
from the
military,
requesting
an
additional
150
search-and-rescue
personnel,
and
seeking
the
setup of
a rapid
DNA
system
to speed
the
analysis
of
remains.
The
flames
were so
fierce
that
they
melted
metal.
In some
cases,
search
crews
found
only
bones or
bone
fragments,
which
were
duly put
in body
bags.
Investigators
are
consulting
forensic
anthropologists
for help
in
identifying
the
remains.
Chaplains
accompanied
some
coroner
search
teams
that
visited
dozens
of
addresses
belonging
to
people
reported
missing.
No cars
in the
driveway
was a
considered
a good
sign,
one car
a little
more
ominous
and
multiple
burned-out
vehicles
more
reason
for
worry.
Meanwhile,
state
investigators
trying
to
establish
the
cause of
the
inferno
appeared
to be
zeroing
in on
Pacific
Gas &
Electric
Co.
power
lines.
A
landowner
near
where
the
blaze
began,
Betsy
Ann
Cowley,
said
PG&E
notified
her the
day
before
the
blaze
that
crews
needed
to come
onto her
property
because
the
utility’s
wires
were
sparking.
Investigators
have
since
declared
the area
a crime
scene.
PG&E
had no
comment
on the
landowner’s
account
but
acknowledged
last
week
that it
was
having
problems
with its
transmission
lines in
the area
just
before
the fire
erupted.
More
than
5,000
firefighters
battling
the
blaze
made
gains
overnight,
slowing
the
flames’
advance
toward
Oroville,
a town
of about
19,000
people.
The
fire,
which
has
charred
195
square
miles
(505
square
kilometers)
and
destroyed
more
than
6,400
homes
since it
started
Thursday,
was
reported
30
percent
contained.
At
the
other
end of
the
state,
in
Southern
California,
firefighters
continued
making
progress
against
a
146-square-mile
(378-square-kilometer)
blaze
that has
killed
two
people
in
star-studded
Malibu
and
destroyed
over 400
structures.
The
flames
roared
to life
again in
a
mountainous
wilderness
area in
the
morning,
sending
up a
huge
plume of
smoke
near the
community
of Lake
Sherwood,
prompting
authorities
to send
aircraft
to drop
retardant
and
water.
Still,
the
number
of
people
evacuated
because
of the
fire was
down by
about
half
from the
day
before,
to
around
100,000,
authorities
said.
“We’re
getting
the
upper
hand
here.
We’re
feeling
better,”
said Los
Angeles
County
Fire
Chief
Daryl
Osby.
The
fire
burned
through
part of
a former
research
site
that
once
housed a
nuclear
reactor
and has
been
undergoing
a
years-long
waste
cleanup.
But
measurements
taken
over the
weekend
found no
abnormal
levels
of
radiation
or
hazardous
compounds,
the
state
Department
of Toxic
Substances
control
said.
The
42 dead
in
Northern
California
surpassed
the
deadliest
single
fire on
record,
a 1933
blaze in
Griffith
Park in
Los
Angeles.
A series
of
wildfires
in
Northern
California’s
wine
country
last
fall
killed
44
people
and
destroyed
more
than
5,000
homes.
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