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Tech: The death toll from California’s fires has risen to 31, with thousands of homes destroyed in Malibu and Northern California

Dangerous wildfires are raging California. The Camp Fire has charred 113,000 acres, the Hill Fire burned 4,500, and the Woolsey Fire scorched 91,500.
The death toll from the California wildfires had risen to 31. Six more bodies were recovered on Sunday, the Butte County sheriff said.
The Camp Fire in northern California destroyed an entire town in less than a day and has killed at least 29 people, making it one of the deadliest fires in the state’s history. Authorities said it was 25% contained Monday morning.
The Woolsey and Hill Fires are burning on the outskirts of LA, and Woolsey alone has burned more than 140 square miles.
The flames are being fueled by dry, hot conditions and strong winds.
California wildfires are becoming so frequent and pervasive that officials there say there’s almost no need for the term “wildfire season” anymore.
Three dangerous wildfires are still raging in California: the Camp Fire in northern California has become one of the two deadliest in state history, and the Woolsey and Hill fires are destroying homes and businesses around LA.
The total death toll from the three fires is up to 31, and it’s expected to rise, officials told reporters on Sunday.
The Camp Fire is responsible for most of the fatalities: It has claimed at least 29 lives as it burned through more than 176 square miles of land. The flames have moved at a breakneck pace since the fire started Thursday morning. The blaze quickly charred the entire town of Paradise, which was home to 27,000 people. More than 6,700 homes and 260 businesses have been destroyed so far, making the Camp Fire the most destructive wildfire in California history in terms of structures lost.
The flames spread so fast — at a pace of 80 football fields per minute — that at least six people burned to death in their cars, the Butte County Sheriff’s Department said. Over the weekend, the ground was still too hot for rescue dogs to circulate, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Further south, in areas around Los Angeles, the Woolsey Fire killed two people in a car, forced over 275,000 from their homes, and destroyed 180 structures. It has burned at least 143 square miles of land, and was 20% contained Monday morning. The smaller Hill Fire charred over 7 square miles and was 75% contained on Monday. Both the Woolsey and Hill Fires encircled the town of Thousand Oaks, where residents were already reeling from a deadly mass shooting in which 12 people were murdered.
“If you were affected by the Woolsey or Hill fires, the Thousand Oaks mass shooting, or both, you can call the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 or text ‘TalkWithUs’ to 66746 for emotional support and resources,” the LA County website reads.
Already this year, 7,578 fires have burned across California, fueled by hot, dry conditions and aggressive winds.
The Camp Fire has killed at least 29 people
The Camp Fire started about 6:30 a.m. on Thursday. Fire officials told the Associated Press on Sunday that 228 people were still unaccounted for. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the county is working with anthropologists from California State University at Chico to help identify bone fragments among ash in the area.
According to the Butte County sheriff’s office, five of the people whose deaths have been confirmed were found near Edgewood Lane in Paradise, California, in or near “vehicles that were overcome by the Camp Fire.” The sheriff’s office was not yet able to identify those victims because of their burn injuries.
“The fire was so close I could feel it in my car through rolled up windows,” Rita Miller, who fled Paradise with her disabled mother told the Associated Press.
Other residents ran from the fire on foot, the Sacramento Bee reported.
The flames have been fueled by hot, dry conditions and spread by California’s Santa Ana winds. Cal Fire issued red-flag warnings around the state on Sunday, which means that conditions are dry and windy enough to create what the firefighting agency calls “extreme fire behavior.”
California Acting Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in Butte County on Thursday and sent a letter to President Donald Trump and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) asking for federal assistance.
Smoke from that fire is blanketing wide swaths of Northern California in a gray haze. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the air throughout much of the San Francisco Bay Area is “unhealthy” to breathe.
Federal air monitors have suggested that older adults, children, teens, and people with heart and lung conditions should limit their time outside because of the high number of dangerously small pollutants in the air. Some people have donned masks to protect their lungs.
The Hill and Woolsey fires have burned 150 square miles in Ventura and LA counties
The Woolsey Fire claimed its first two victims on Friday. Two burned bodies were found in a “long, narrow” Malibu driveway near Mulholland Highway, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
The flames from the Woolsey Fire have also threatened the homes of celebrities such as the Kardashian sisters and left a burned shell where Gerard Butler’s home once stood. At least 275,000 other people have evacuated. As of Monday morning, Cal Fire estimated more than 370 structures had been destroyed.
As the Woolsey Fire grew on Friday, the LA County fire department wrote on Twitter: “Imminent threat! Malibu lakes residents must leave area immediately.”
LA County Sheriff’s Deputies were knocking on doors there, telling everyone in the star-studded beach town to get out.
Firefighters are racing to keep flames from charring people’s homes, but as the LA Fire Department’s Eric Scott pointed out on Twitter, some houses are better protected than others, since green vegetation can help keep flames back.
The nearby Hill Fire is much smaller — it has burned 4,500 acres burned in Ventura County. Mandatory evacuation orders are still in place for people at the Point Mugu Naval Base and California State University Channel Islands, among other areas.
You can view the full evacuation orders as well as shelter and donation information on the Ventura County Emergency Information site and the LA County Woolsey Fire site.
Read More: Why wildfire season is getting longer and stronger
On Friday morning, less than 24 hours after the two fires broke out, acting Gov. Newsom declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles and Ventura counties. President Trump approved some federal assistance for the California fires on Friday, but then threatening via Twitter over the weekend that there may be “no more Fed payments!” unless California forests are better managed.
The federal government oversees 40% of California land.
Wildfire “season,” in California used to run from late summer through the fall, since autumn’s Santa Ana winds help blow flames around.
But as the planet heats up, unseasonably high temperatures and drought conditions are becoming more common. So fire officials in the state are succumbing to the idea that fires may not be limited to any specific season anymore.
Bryan Logan and Kelly McLaughlin contributed reporting.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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