Humboldt County Sheriff’s Posse Search & Rescue assists with victim recovery, as Camp Fire death toll rises to 88

PARADISE, Ca. (KIEM) – The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Posse Search & Rescue crew has been helping recover remains in the burned areas of the Camp Fire.

They spent their holiday in Butte County, combing through muddy ash for human remains in and around the devastated town of Paradise. The Camp Fire is the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century.

So far, 88 fatalities have been confirmed, and as of Monday night, 203 people are still unaccounted for.

Officials say the vast majority of the area has been searched. Forensic anthropologists, firefighters, and urban search and rescue teams are all working together to find and identify other remains. However, officials say, the condition of the remains are making identification more difficult.

“A lot of people are very anxious to get back to those communities and their properties, and we are very anxious to get people back into those properties, but the thing that we have to do, before we can allow that, is ensure that the area is safe for the public’s return,” said Sheriff Kory Honea at a press conference on Monday evening, “Unfortunately, many of the remains that we located have been nearly completed consumed by fire, so what they are recovering are bones and bone fragments.”

The Camp Fire is now 100% contained. Re-population and other information can be found, here.

In response to statewide wildfires, CSU schools, including Humboldt State University, say they will accommodate all prospective students by extending application deadlines to December 15. Learn more, here.

Also, in a new climate report, issued by more than a dozen federal agencies, a grim picture is painted about the impacts of climate change nationwide, with a stark prediction for California.

The more than 16 hundred-page report says climate change is driving an increase in wildfires in the state, with warmer temperatures worsening the drought and, in turn, killing trees, making them more susceptible to burning.

Some lawmakers blame the destructive fires on the state’s fire suppression policies which, they say, only encourage accumulations of dry brush and debris. The analysis estimates that the acreage burned by wildfires between 1984 and 2015 was twice what would have burned, had the impacts of climate change not been so extreme.

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