U.S. News

Death Toll Hits 56 in Northern California’s Camp Fire, 130+ People Missing

IT GETS WORSE

And a shelter housing survivors of the inferno has now been hit by an outbreak of norovirus.

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Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty

Authorities say eight more people were found dead Wednesday from the raging wildfire in Northern California, bringing the death toll to 56. At least an additional 130 people are still unaccounted for after the Camp Fire erupted last week, while the blaze has now grown to 215 square miles and swallowed up more than 9,000 homes. Meanwhile, several evacuees staying at a shelter in Chico have also fallen sick as a result of a norovirus outbreak, Butte County public-health spokeswoman Lisa Almaguer said late Wednesday. The New York Daily News later reported 21 people tested positive to norovirus, and they have reportedly been quarantined. News of the outbreak and additional deaths came after authorities released the names of about 100 people who are still missing. Many people on the list are said to be in their eighties and nineties, and additional search crews have been deployed to comb through scorched areas. “We want to be able to cover as much ground as quickly as we possibly can,” Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told the AP. “This is a very difficult task.”An additional three people have died in Southern California’s wildfires.

Read it at AP