More than 1,000 people unaccounted for in California wildfires
The death toll from the "Camp Fire" in Northern California has increased to 71 while authorities try to locate 1,011 people who are unaccounted for. The blaze is now 55 percent contained after consuming more than 148,000 acres.
In Southern California, just outside of Los Angeles, the Woolsey Fire is 82 percent contained after burning 98,362 acres. Dense smoke from the fires has smothering parts of the state with what has been described as "the dirtiest air in the world."
Firefighters have been racing against time, with a red flag warning issued for Saturday night into Sunday, including winds up to 50 mph and low humidity. Rain was forecast for mid-week, which could help firefighters but also complicate the challenging search for remains.
"It's a disheartening situation," Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said. "As much as I wish we could get through this before the rains come, I don't know if that's possible."
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California wildfires fast facts
Firefighters are battling two major wildfires in California. Here's a breakdown by the numbers as of Friday morning, according to Cal Fire and local officials.
Camp Fire
- Location: Butte County
- 148,000 acres burned
- 55 percent contained
- 71 fatalities confirmed
- 11,862 structures destroyed (including homes)
Woolsey Fire
- Location: Los Angeles County, Ventura County
- 98,362 acres burned
- 82 percent contained
- 3 fatalities confirmed
- 713 structures destroyed, 57,000 in danger
More than 1,000 unaccounted for
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said at a news conference Friday that the death toll in the Camp Fire had risen to 71 and the number of people unaccounted for had increased to 1,011.
Honea cautioned that this list "dynamic" and will likely fluctuate due to multiple names. The list of people missing is derived from three data sets, including people who called to report someone missing and people who emailed.
An additional eight sets of human remains were found Friday, bringing the total number of deaths to 71.
Two people who died have been positively identified: Paula Dodge, 70, and Randall Dodge, 68, both of Paradise, California.
California issues warning about air quality
Search teams in the area of the Camp Fire are dealing with heavy smoke and hazardous air pollution. The smog is affecting cities hundreds of miles away from the fire, and the state is warning people about the air quality.
A monitoring station in Palermo, California, near the Camp Fire said levels of pollutants are 13 times higher than at a station near the Nevada state line in Truckee, California. The smoke is flowing southwest, creating "unhealthy" conditions as far away as the state capital of Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Air quality in Northern California becomes worst in the world
Smoke from California's wildfires caused northern parts of the state to record the worst levels of air quality in the world, according to Purple Air. The levels in California exceeded cities in India and China.
Most schools in San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland and Folsom said they would be closed Friday. At least six universities in Northern California canceled classes Thursday. San Francisco's cable cars were shut down Friday to encourage residents and tourists to stay inside.
Dozens still hospitalized after California fire
Dozens of people are still hospitalized a week after a deadly wildfire broke out in Northern California. UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento said Friday that it's treated 11 people injured in the wildfire that largely destroyed the town Paradise and killed dozens.
Spokeswoman Pamela Wu said nine remain hospitalized. One person is in critical condition, one is in serious condition and eight others are in fair condition.
The hospital's chief burn surgeon told KRON-TV that most patients had burns over 20 to 50 percent of their bodies.
Enloe Medical Center in Chico treated 49 patients who evacuated from a hospital in Paradise. Hospital spokeswoman Andrea Gleason says numerous others were admitted for fire-related injuries, but the staff hasn't kept track of the exact number of patients.
National Park Service plans to rebuild burned down buildings, movie sets
Officials from the National Park Service plan to rebuild the burned-down buildings and movie sets of Southern California's Paramount Ranch and reopen within two years.
Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area Superintendent David Szymanski announced the plan as he guided reporters through the charred foundations that once made up the ranch's "Western Town," most of which burned shortly after a wildfire broke out November 8.
A church built for HBO's "Westworld" and a train depot built for the 1990s CBS series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" are all that still stand amid the blackened hills of the ranch that began as a set for Paramount Pictures in the 1920s and was taken over by the National Park Service in 1980.
Structures that served as barns, hotels, saloons and barbershops for decades of movies and TV shows are gone.
Smoke delays 200 flights in San Francisco
San Francisco International Airport said nearly 200 flights have been delayed because of low visibility and smoke caused by wildfires in Northern California. As of noon Friday, about 15 percent, or 195 flights, have had delays averaging 45 minutes, said Doug Yakel, an airport spokesperson.
On Thursday, about 500 were delayed, representing about 40 percent of the airport's flights. The airport averages about 1,250 flights per day. Yakel said smoke was the main factor in low visibility conditions, with visibility at about 1.5 miles Friday compared to 10 miles on a normal day.
The airport is urging travelers to check with their airlines or the airport's website for their flights' status. Schools across the San Francisco Bay Area were closed Friday as winds carried smoke from wildfires in Northern California that blanketed towns and cities hundreds of miles away.
Family listed as missing actually escaped blaze
Officials believe the list of people missing in the Camp Fire includes some who fled the fast-moving blaze and don't realize they have been reported as missing. That's what happened to one family who escaped the town of Paradise, which was all but destroyed.
Greg Fernea and his adult sons Nicolas Fernea and Patrick Fernea have been staying at Patrick's home in rural Tehama Ranch, where cell service is spotty, CBS affiliate KOVR-TV reports. Nicolas Fernea told the station people from his past called worried about his well-being.
"I had old teachers, like I graduated from Ridgeview High School, and they actually saw my name on the list and reached out, and I want to thank them," he said.
Camp at Walmart parking lot shutting down
A makeshift camp at a Walmart parking lot in Northern California will shut down, CBS News correspondent DeMarco Morgan reports. Donation bins and portable bathrooms will be removed.
More than 100 evacuees from the Camp Fire set up the camp in Chico, which is near the all-but-destroyed town of Paradise. A co-organizer of the group said the Red Cross has told them the camp will be shut down by 1 p.m. PT Sunday.
The Red Cross said that it wasn't the charity's decision to shut the camp down and that it was making people aware of its shelters in the area. Emergency officials were aware but said federal assistance wasn't available.
Family survives fire, Thousand Oaks carnage
Members of one California family survived two unthinkable tragedies less than 24 hours apart, CBS Los Angeles reports.
Carmen Edman said her family's harrowing escape from Malibu came a day after her daughter, Deseriee, survived the mass shooting inside the Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks. "I was in panic mode since Wednesday night -- since that phone call -- and stress levels were off the charts," Carmen Edman said.
The Edman family got to safety, but their Malibu home burned to the ground. It was 48 hours of horror for the family, but all of them kept things in perspective: They all survived. "Two-near death experiences that you just don't expect," Deseriee Edman said.
Deseriee said she's still processing what happened at the Borderline Bar and with the Woolsey Fire.
"I'm trying to stay strong as possible for my family and my friends. And I'm trying to look at everything as positive as I can in these types of situations," she said.
Deseriee's family knows their situation could be worse. "Twelve people didn't go home. Ron didn't go home, neither did Justin, Christina all these people that were there. Good people," Carmen Edman said.
Camp Fire blamed for 63 deaths
Officials held a press conference Thursday night with the latest details about the Camp Fire in Northern California. The Butte County sheriff said seven additional human remains were found earlier, bringing the total dead from the Camp Fire to 63 (statewide 66).
They said a total of 11,862 structures have been destroyed by the Camp Fire, including homes. A FEMA official said anyone affected by the Camp Fire needs to register so they can receive assistant.
An official with the California Highway Patrol said looters will be prosecuted. The CHP said road/highway conditions can be found online at the Butte County website. They said some 165 cars have been cleared from roadways.
The Butte County sheriff's office announced a total of 631 have been listed as "unaccounted" -- a jump in the past 24 hours. The list can be found here.
Peter Martinez contributed to this report.
NASA image shows deadly Camp Fire from above
NASA tweeted a satellite image showing the California skies "shrouded in smoke" from the deadly Camp Fire in Northern California.
The image was taken Nov. 14 -- the red points are burning fires, according to NASA.
DNA samples requested
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea has asked relatives of the missing to submit DNA samples to speed up identification of the dead. However, he said some of those unaccounted for may never be conclusively found.
San Francisco cable cars halted over smoky air
San Francisco's iconic open-air cable cars have been pulled off the streets because of choking air wafting in from a wildfire in Northern California.
The city's transportation agency said Thursday that because of the poor air quality, "all cable cars will be pulling back into the cable car barn."
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency made the announcement on Twitter, saying buses would provide service for the remainder of the day.
Schools in San Francisco, Sacramento, Oakland and elsewhere have announced they will be closed Friday because of the poor air quality.
Trump to meet with wildfire victims
President Trump will travel to California on Saturday to meet with wildfire victims, the White House said Thursday. No other details were provided about the president's trip.
"This is not a Republican or Democrat issue"
U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke said that fighting massive wildfires was "not a Republican or Democrat issue" days after President Trump had threatened to withhold federal aid for California and blaming the fires on "poor" forest management. Zinke called the Camp Fire the worst fire that he had ever seen.
"It's unsustainable to have this happen year after year or have a season like this where you have hundred-thousand-acre fires becoming routine," Zinke said during a press conference with California Gov. Jerry Brown. "We're a great nation. This is not a Republican or Democrat issue. This is an American issue, and we should address it as such."
Zinke said there was no "silver bullet" to tackling the problem and emphasized cooperation between various levels of government. Brown said forests in the state should be managed better, cities should be built more intelligently and climate change had to be addressed.
"We've got to get on the side of nature," the governor said. "We can't just fight it."
Norovirus outbreak at Camp Fire shelter
There's been an outbreak of norovirus at a shelter housing people who evacuated their homes to escape the Camp Fire. Butte County public health spokeswoman Lisa Almaguer said lab tests confirmed the virus' presence.
Those who were sick have been quarantined at the shelter in Chico, California, but in an area separate from healthy evacuees, Almaguer said. She did not know how many people had contracted the virus.
Staff mopped floors with bleach Wednesday at the Neighborhood Church in Chico, where a large room has been converted into a makeshift medical care center. Norovirus is highly contagious and can cause diarrhea, fever and body aches.
It spreads commonly when people are in close quarters.