As the death toll from the monstrous wildfires ravaging Northern California rose to 29, officials confronted a grim task on Thursday: the search for the missing and the dead.
Authorities were trying to track down about 400 people who remained missing, and were beginning the somber work of recovering bodies from incinerated homes, Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano told reporters Thursday afternoon.
Identification of bodies may be difficult and could take some time, Giordano warned. Officials have found some remains intact, but others are “nothing more than ash and bones,” he said.
Exhausted firefighters continued to fight the 21 blazes raging simultaneously across the state’s wine country, including Napa and Sonoma Counties, where fierce winds and months of dry weather have helped to kindle the flames. About 3,500 homes and commercial structures have been destroyed.
Related: ‘Like an Atom Bomb Hit’: Santa Rosa Residents Confront Devastation
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Erratic wind gusts were expected to hit wine country starting Friday, said Ken Pimlott, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. Those conditions could throw firefighters back on their heels and whip flames into more fury.
“It’s going to continue to get worse before it gets better,” Pimlott said Wednesday.
Cal Fire officials said at least 191,400 acres had burned so far — an area almost the size of New York City. Firefighters from across California and Nevada were called in as reinforcements.
Photos: From Above, California Wine Town an Ashy Wasteland
Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann said at a news conference Thursday that some of the fires had combined and that “until we get them contained, they’re all going to be a problem.”
But dry air and gusty winds up to 45 mph were making it harder for firefighters to make significant gains as many of the infernos continued to burn out of control.