Donald Trump on Saturday doubled down on his insistence that poor forest management was partly to blame for California’s most deadly fire ever, as the Queen sent her condolences to the state.

Before heading to California, the US president told reporters he had been raising concerns about the issue for a “long time”, adding: “This could have been a lot different”.

The so-called Camp Fire which swept through Paradise, a town close to 200 miles north of San Francisco, killed 76 but there are fears that figure could rise further.

The number of people missing has soared to 1,011, almost doubling in 24 hours, after reviews were carried out on records of emergency phone calls.

Some family members of loved ones unaccounted for spoke of time running out as the authorities searched through an area of destruction the size of Chicago looking for survivors.