California fire has claimed 63 as missing list grows to 631
MAGALIA, Calif. — At least 63 are now dead from a Northern California wildfire, and officials say they have a missing persons list with 631 names on it in an ever-evolving accounting of the missing after the nation’s deadliest wildfire in a century.
Officials were scrambling to pinpoint everyone’s whereabouts, and Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Thursday that the high number of missing people probably included some who fled the blaze and didn’t realize they had been reported missing.
Authorities were making the list public so people could see if they were on it and let authorities know they were safe, Honea said.
“The chaos that we were dealing with was extraordinary,” he said of the early crisis hours last week. “Now we’re trying to go back out and make sure that we’re accounting for everyone.”