California fires: death toll rises to 71, over 1,000 missing

Rescue workers said on Friday they were searching for more than 1,000 people reported missing in a northern California town reduced to ashes by the deadliest wildfire in the state’s history, as the death toll increased to 71.

The sheriff’s “unaccounted for” list from the Camp fire leapt by hundreds of people for a second successive evening, up from 631 missing a day earlier.

Officials on Friday said remains of eight more victims had been found in and around the town of Paradise, according to The Guardian.

The Camp fire, which erupted a week ago in the Sierra foothills 175 miles (280km) north of San Francisco, is the country’s deadliest in a century.

The Butte county sheriff, Kory Honea, said Friday that a list that he released Thursday of 631 names has now increased to 1,011 names.

He called it “a dynamic list” that would fluctuate up and down and urged the public to consult the list to see if their names are on it and let authorities know if they are OK.

The White House announced that Donald Trump would visit California on Saturday to meet with victims of the deadly wildfires raging in northern and southern California.