California wildfires: Death toll rises to 25 as firefighters continue search for survivors

Blaze raging in north is state's most destructive on record

California firefighters are embarking on exhaustive search-and-rescue operations for survivors and the remains of victims killed in massive wildfires as the death toll climbed to 25.

More than 100 are still missing after a wildfire engulfed 164 sq miles of northern California.

Many of those residents could still be found alive, Butte County sheriff Kory Honea said, as his department initially received over 500 calls about missing loved ones.

With some of the numerous fires becoming at least partially contained by Sunday, authorities stepped up efforts to recover and identify people who died.

A local coroner’s team is helping to find bodies in burned down areas, along with a DNA lab truck to assist in identifying human remains.

“I know that members of the community who are missing loved ones are anxious, and I know that the news of us recovering bodies has to be disconcerting,” the sheriff told reporters.

In some cases, investigators have only found bones or bone fragments.

Anthropologists from nearby California State University, Chico, have provided expertise to officers during the process, as sheriff’s officials cross-check their lists with official shelters to search for the missing.

Most victims have not yet been identified. Two people were found dead in a wildfire in southern California, bringing the total number of fatalities for the state to 25.

The northern California fire became the state’s third deadliest since record keeping began, with the death toll surpassing that from a blaze last year that ravaged the city of Santa Rosa.

An additional search and recovery team on top of the four already on the ground was being brought in to search for remains, officials said.

The flames burned down more than 6,700 buildings, almost all of them were homes, making it California’s most destructive wildfire on record.

Many dead bodies were reportedly discovered inside their cars or outside vehicles and homes.

State officials put the total number of people forced from their homes by California’s fires at more than 200,000. Evacuation orders included the entire city of Malibu that is home to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars.

Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration providing federal funding for fires at both ends of the state. He later threatened to withhold payments to California, claiming its forest management is “so poor”.

The president continued attacking California’s Forest Management on Twitter over the weekend, writing on Sunday: “With proper Forest Management, we can stop the devastation constantly going on in California.”

“Get smart!” he added.

The criticisms have caused California’s Professional Firefighters Union to respond by calling the president’s message a “shameful attack” and “ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines".

“At a time when our every effort should be focused on vanquishing the destructive fires and helping the victims, the president has chosen instead to issue an uninformed political threat aimed squarely at the innocent victims of these cataclysmic fires,” the statement added.

California Governor-elect Gavin Newsom responded on Twitter that this was “not a time for partisanship”.

“This is a time for coordinating relief and response and lifting those in need up,” he said.

Mr Trump took a more empathetic tone later in the day, tweeting sympathies for firefighters, people who have fled their homes and the families of those killed by the flames.

Reporting contributed by AP