Death Toll In California Wildfires Rises As Homes Left Destroyed

Some 250,000 people have had to flee their home.
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Wildfires raging in the US state of California have killed 25 people.

A further 14 bodies were discovered in or around the town of Paradise in the north, which was said to be incinerated in the blaze.

Two more people were killed near the coastal area of Malibu in the south.

Firefighters have saved thousands of homes despite working in “extreme, tough fire conditions that they said they have never seen in their life”, Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby said.

Those vicious conditions on Friday night gave way to a calm Saturday, with winds reduced to breezes.

No new growth was reported on the larger of the two fires, which stands at 109 square miles, and firefighters now have the blaze 5% contained.

Progress also came against the smaller fire, prompting Ventura County officials to allow people in a handful of communities to return to their homes.

Hundreds of thousands across the region remain under evacuation orders, and could stay that way for days as winds pick up again.

Osby said losses to homes were significant but did not say how many had burned. Officials said earlier that 150 houses had been destroyed and the number would rise.

Fire burned in coastal spots like Malibu, where stars including Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian West, Guillermo del Toro and Martin Sheen were forced out of their homes amid a citywide evacuation order.

“It was way too big a firestorm,” said Lani Netter, whose Malibu home was spared while her neighbour’s burned.

“We had tremendous, demonic winds is the only way I can put it.”

The flames also burned inland through hills and canyons dotted with modest homes, reached the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, and stretched into suburbs such as Thousand Oaks, a city of 130,000 people that just a few days ago saw 12 people killed in a mass shooting at a country music bar.

“We’ve had a lot of tragedy in our community,” said Ventura County Supervisor Linda Parks, whose district includes Thousand Oaks.

“We don’t want any more. We do not want any more lives lost.”

The area burning in southern California is in severe drought, US government analysts said.

California emerged from a five-year statewide drought last year but has had a very dry 2018, pushing parts of the state back into drought and leaving others, like the area of the northern California fire, abnormally dry.

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