PARADISE, Calif. -- The catastrophic wildfire in Northern California is nearly out after several days of rain, but searchers are still completing the meticulous task of combing through now-muddy ash and debris for signs of human remains.
Crews resumed the grim work Saturday as rain cleared out of the devastated town of Paradise. Some were looking through destroyed neighborhoods for a second time as hundreds of people remain unaccounted for. They were searching for telltale fragments or bone or anything that looks like a pile of cremated ashes.
The nation's deadliest wildfire in a century has killed at least 84 people, and 475 are on a list of those reported missing. The flames ignited Nov. 8 in the parched Sierra Nevada foothills and quickly spread across 240 square miles, destroying most of Paradise in a day.
The fire burned down nearly 19,000 buildings, most of them homes, and displaced thousands of people, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
The two-week firefight got a boost Wednesday from the first significant winter-like storm to hit California. It dropped an estimated 7 inches of rain over the burn area over a three-day period without causing significant mudslides, said Hannah Chandler-Cooley of the National Weather Service.
The rain helped extinguish hot spots in smoldering areas, and containment increased to 95 percent. Despite the inclement weather, more than 800 volunteers kept searching for remains.
Crews worked on-and-off during a downpour Friday. While the rain made everybody colder and wetter, they kept the mission in mind, said Chris Stevens, a search volunteer who wore five layers of clothing to keep warm.
"It doesn't change the spirits of the guys working," he said. "Everyone here is super committed to helping the folks here."
In Southern California, more residents have returned to areas evacuated in a destructive fire as crews repaired power, telephone and gas utilities.
Los Angeles County sheriff's officials said they were in the last phase of repopulating Malibu and unincorporated areas of the county. At the height of the fire, 250,000 people fled their homes.
Flames broke out Nov. 8 just west of Los Angeles and burned through suburban communities and wilderness parklands to the ocean. Three people died, and 1,643 buildings, most of them homes, were destroyed, officials said.
In Northern California, searchers tried to keep their minds on the task rather than the tragic situation.
"The guys will never say it's hard," crew member David Kang said. "But it is."
As Butte County recovers from the worst wildfire in California history, educators are faced with reopening schools even as firefighters continue their work and searchers scour the area.
The countywide public school system has been closed since the start of the Camp Fire on Nov. 8. Officials said the hope is to reopen Dec. 3.
They are working to find replacement classroom space for schools that burned down in the fire.
Paradise Unified School District was hardest hit, with multiple school buildings lost to the fires. Charter schools were also hit.
"This is the equivalent to setting up a school district in two weeks. There are a lot of logistics, and we want to assure you that we're on it," said Mary Sakuma, deputy superintendent at the Butte County Office of Education.
Authorities are also assembling trauma counselors to be available at schools.
"This is not just about buildings," she said. "Our staff, parents and students have undergone tremendous trauma. We can't just come back to school after Thanksgiving like we used to."
Paradise Unified is now operating out of a temporary location and said in a letter to parents several days ago that it was looking for classroom space.
School officials have been asking for donations and other forms of support. Rancho Santa Fe businessman Bob Wilson has promised to donate $1 million to Paradise High School, one of the few campuses to survive the flames.
Information for this article was contributed by Kathleen Ronayne, Olga Rodriguez, Daisy Nguyen and John Antczak of The Associated Press; and by Rong-Gong Lin II of the Los Angeles Times.
A Section on 11/25/2018