California Wildfire 2017 Map Update, News: Death Toll Rises to 40

By Janna Dela Cruz, Christian Post Contributor Sunday, October 15, 2017

The death toll in the California wildfire considered the deadliest in the history of the state has risen from 36 to 40.

Two of the latest deaths recorded are from Sonoma County, bumping the casualties in the area alone to 22. The two others were reported from Napa County.

Officials have been working around the clock in scouring the ruins of the homes wiped out by the wildfires, which started Sunday night. The Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said at a Thursday evening news conference via CNN:

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Some of (the remains) are merely ashes and bones. And we may never get truly confirmative identification on ashes. When you're cremated, you can't get an ID.

The wildfires have devastated 5,700 homes and about 100,000 people had to be ordered for evacuation in the Northern California's wine country. Plans are also being placed to allow some evacuees to return to their homes although the tragedy has resulted in unhealthy air quality in the San Francisco Bay area.

According to Napa County Fire Chief Barry Biermann, firefighters have been working nonstop in putting out the bigger fires.

It's like pulling teeth to get law enforcement and firefighters to disengage from what they're doing out there — they're truly passionate about what they're doing to help the public. But the reinforcements are coming in, and that's why you're seeing the progress that we're making.

Even with this amount of effort, there is still a lot of ground to cover with only 45 percent of the 48,000 acre Atlas fire contained as of Friday. The fire in the 44,000-acre Nuns in Sonoma County is only 5 percent is under control.

The Tubbs fire, which affects 34,000-acre of land, in Napa and Sonoma counties has been 44 percent contained while the other 34,000-acre fire in Redwood and Potter has been 10-percent controlled.