Nearly 1,300 People Are Now Missing In The California Wildfires As Death Toll Rises

As the number of acres ravaged by the wildfires in California increase, even more alarming numbers are on the rise as nearly 1,300 people are missing and at least 79 are confirmed dead.

California’s deadliest wildfire on record, the Camp Fire, has killed at least 76 people and destroyed 9,800 homes and 149,000 acres. The fire is 55% contained as of Saturday evening.

The number of people missing in the Camp Fire grew on Saturday from 1,011 to 1,276. Butte County coroner Kory Honea told CNN that investigators have been working to get a comprehensive list missing people since the fires first erupted on 8th November. He also added it is unclear if any of the names on the list are duplicates.

The Woolsey Fire is 78% contained as of Saturday morning and has killed at least three people, according to CBS. The Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management said several communities will have to be "completely rebuilt."

As of Friday, 47,200 of the 52,000 total people evacuated were still displaced, per NBC News. Companies such as Airbnb and several non-profit organisations have been tirelessly coordinating relief efforts for those displaced, and firefighters have been working to contain the fires.

President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction with how the fires have been handled and blamed forest mismanagement for the blazes, visited the state on Saturday. "Hopefully this is going to be the last one of these because it was a really, really bad one," Trump said while standing in a charred mobile home park.

In the last month alone, California firefighters have put out more than 500 fires, reports CNN. Brian K. Rice, the president of California Professional Firefighters, said in a statement, “The president’s message attacking California and threatening to withhold aid to the victims of the cataclysmic fires is ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines.”