Recovery

The report by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Inspector General urges FEMA to require that software used by local authorities to access and operate the emergency alert system include features such as the ability to preview or cancel alerts.

“Is it possible that there could be a circumstance where someone was completely consumed by fire and therefore we wouldn’t have something that we could collect? I would say it is within the realm of possibility, unfortunately,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Monday.

With California experiencing two years of unprecedented wildfires that have left more than 20,000 homes destroyed and scores dead, the private firefighting business is booming.

There was some good news on Sunday. More than two weeks after the deadliest fire on record in California swept through Butte County, killing at least 85 people and destroying 14,000 homes, officials announced that the massive Camp Fire was finally 100 percent contained.

Flames ate through the secluded communities of Pulga and Concow before reaching the larger towns of Paradise and Magalia. By the end of the day, it was an inferno that would be seared into record books as the Camp Fire: California’s most destructive and deadliest wildfire.

Like it did for Sonoma County, Calif., after the Santa Rosa fire in 2017, the digital government platform was able to launch a customizable portal for evacuation, shelter, donation and other info in a matter of days.

The health of people breathing in smoke from the wildfires might well depend on the degree of their exposure and whether the microscopic particles floating in the air manage to worm their way deep into lungs and circulatory systems.

'It was an urban conflagration,” Pangburn said. “It was structure-to-structure-to-structure ignition that carried the fire through this community.'

'We had absolutely no evacuation orders,” Bailey said. “No call, no emergency text, nothing — and neither did anyone I know.'

The data are far from perfect. Some people may be listed twice, or more. Others may be safe somewhere, unaware that someone is looking for them.

The deadliest and most destructive wildfire in California history, the Camp Fire has destroyed more than 15,000 structures total, including more than 11,700 homes, according to the Monday morning incident report.

Since Thursday, fire-ravaged Northern California has had the dirtiest air in the world, topping notoriously smoggy cities in India and China, according to air quality monitoring network Purple Air. The Butte County Air Quality Management District reported “hazardous” air quality in Chico, Oroville and Sacramento.

At a Thursday night press conference, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea announced the death toll had climbed to 63 and 631 people are now unaccounted for. By Friday, fire personnel had increased containment to 45 percent and reported that the blaze grew by only 1,000 acres overnight.

'Everyone has been dealing with evacuations, sheltering family and friends, and yet they’re down here working hard all the time. That’s why people are doing this, because they know people depend on it.'

Community Organizations Active in Disaster is helping the southwest Georgia area recovery from Hurricane Michael.