The death toll from northern California wildfires has climbed to 31, as officials warned that conditions would worsen.
Hundreds of people remain missing as at least 22 fires rampaged across the state’s famous wine country.
More than 8,000 firefighters are now battling the flames.
The fires have destroyed more than 3,500 buildings and homes over 170,000 acres and forced the evacuation of about 25,000 people.
According to officials, 17 people are now confirmed killed in Sonoma County, with another 8 in Mendocino County, 4 in Yuba County and two in Napa County.
The updated casualty figures mean the wildfires are the deadliest in California since 1933, when 29 people died in fires at Griffith Park in Los Angeles.
Strong winds that have fanned the flames eased in recent days, but forecasters warned they were set to pick up again on Friday night.
Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said recovery teams with cadaver dogs were searching the smoldering ruins of homes.
“We have found bodies that were completely intact, and we have found bodies that were no more than ash and bone,” he said.
It is not yet clear what started the fires on October 8, but officials say power lines blown over by strong winds could be the cause.
One of the greatest threats to life is believed to be around the town of Calistoga, Napa County, where the entire population of 5,000 has been ordered to evacuate.
Geyserville, a town of around 800 people, and the community of Boyes Hot Springs, both in Sonoma, were also evacuated.
The huge fires have sent smoke and ash over San Francisco, about 50 miles away, and over some towns and cities even further south.
At least 13 Napa Valley wineries have been destroyed, a vintners’ trade group says.
According to California police, more than 150 people are missing in wildfires that have ravaged the state’s northern wine region.
At least 17 people are now confirmed dead and more than 2,000 buildings have been destroyed by the fires which broke out on October 8.
Eleven of the deaths have been in Sonoma County.
One of the worst affected towns there is Santa Rosa, north of San Francisco, where entire districts have been destroyed.
According to the Sonoma County sheriff’s office, 155 people were still unaccounted for, although that could be due to the chaotic pace of the evacuations.
In neighboring Napa County, victims included 100-year-old Charles Rippey and his 98-year-old wife, Sarah, police said.
The wildfires are among the deadliest in California’s history and have sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, about 60 miles away.
According to officials, more than 17 fires had burned about 115,000 acres in the past 24 hours.
There was some good news when winds that had been fanning the flames eased, helping firefighters to bring some of the blazes under control.
In Santa Rosa, a Hilton hotel and a mobile home park were destroyed. Tens of thousands of Sonoma County residents have fled, authorities said.
At least four wineries had suffered “total or very significant losses”, Napa Valley Vintners said, with nine others reporting some damage to buildings or vineyards.
More than 91,000 homes and businesses are without power.
California Governor Jerry Brown declared states of emergency in Sonoma, Napa and five other counties.
President Donald Trump has also approved a disaster declaration, allowing federal emergency aid to be disbursed.
At least 13 people have been killed by fast-spreading fires that are ravaging parts of California’s wine region.
Mass evacuations have been ordered in the region after 1,500 properties were destroyed and a state of emergency was declared in northern areas.
About 20,000 people fled from Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties in response to some California’s worst-ever wildfires.
Such fires are more common in southern California but a combination of dry weather and strong winds has fuelled the destruction in the north.
On October 10, Cal Fire officials said that 17 wildfires in nine counties have burned more than 115,000 acres in just the past 12 hours.
California Governor Jerry Brown said: “These fires have destroyed structures and continue to threaten thousands of homes, necessitating the evacuation of thousands of residents.”
On October 9, the governor appealed to President Donald Trump in a five-page letter to declare a major disaster and send federal emergency aid to the fire-ravaged state.
Meanwhile, in southern California, a separate wildfire burnt 24 homes or other buildings in the wealthy Anaheim Hills area of Orange County, forcing thousands of residents to evacuate.
The fires – considered among the deadliest in state history – have sent smoke as far south as San Francisco, located about 60 miles away.
A new fire is reportedly burning near the Oakmont area of Santa Rosa, a city that has already been devastated by the blazes.
Hundreds of homes have been destroyed in the city by flames so hot that glass melted on cars.
Details of how the seven people died in Sonoma were not immediately available, but country sheriff Rob Giordano said he expected the death toll to rise.
“There is a lot of burned homes and a lot of burned areas, so it’s just logical that we’re gonna find more people,” he said.
Two people also died in Napa county and one in Mendocino county when thousands of acres burned in one valley.
Sonoma County officials said they had received more than 150 missing-person reports by Tuesday.
Dozens of vineyard workers were reportedly airlifted to safety overnight.
Wineries belonging to the rich and famous were abandoned. One belonging to musician Dave Matthews was closed and at risk of being burned to the ground, staff said, as was the nearby Francis Ford Coppola Winery.
The vine harvest is already under way and many of the grapes have been picked.
It is not yet known how the fires started on October 8, but such blazes are particularly fast-spreading because of a combination of 60mph winds, low humidity and hot, dry weather.
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