Death toll in massive California wildfire revised down by one

Image courtesy: Reuters

LOS ANGELES: The death toll in California`s deadliest and most destructive wildfire was revised down by one, to 85, on Thursday by a sheriff who said that remains initially thought to belong to two people turned out to be from the same individual.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said the number of people still considered missing or unaccounted for in the aftermath of the Camp Fire had also been reduced by one after a man on that list was taken into custody on an arrest warrant.

The Camp Fire broke out on Nov. 8 and quickly incinerated most of the Sierra foothills town of Paradise, about 175 miles (280 km) north of San Francisco, destroying 18,500 homes. Most of the fatalities from the blaze were in Paradise.

At 85, the casualty toll from the Camp Fire stands as the greatest loss of life from a single wildfire on record in California, and the highest from any US wildfire during the past century.