An army of searchers moved through the rubble of Paradise in a desperate search Friday to find more victims of California’s worst fire on record as the number of people missing skyrocketed.

The death toll from the devastating Camp fire rose to 71 Friday, while the number of people reported missing jumped to more than 1,000, authorities said.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea told reporters at a Thursday afternoon news conference that search crews had recovered eight more bodies in the burn area.

The number of people unaccounted for rose to 1,011, up from 631 on Thursday evening, after authorities combed through additional 911 calls, emails and other reports generated at the peak of the chaotic evacuation.


Honea said that number may include some people who are counted twice or others who may not know they were reported missing.

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The staggering toll was announced as President Trump made plans to visit California to meet with people affected by the wildfires. It would mark his second trip as president to the nation’s most populous state.

The Camp fire is by far the worst wildfire in recorded California history. By Thursday evening, the blaze had chewed through 141,000 acres and 11,862 structures, destroying an entire town in hours. Officials said it could take weeks to complete the search for victims. Thousands of survivors are without homes, living in shelters and tent cities.


Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted in some areas and reduced to warnings as fire crews on the front lines boosted containment to 40%.

“What that means is, if conditions change and fire begins to threaten that area, you have to be ready to go,” Honea said.

The fire is also causing a major public health problem as smoke choked huge swaths of Northern California, including Sacramento and the Bay Area. Dozens of schools across the region canceled classes as authorities urged residents to remain indoors.

At a town hall meeting in Chico late Thursday, Denise Davis showed up to reconnect with her community. There, the 53-year-old Paradise resident saw a neighbor whom she last saw in a driveway carrying someone else’s dog during evacuations.


This community, she said, is why she’s coming back.

“That’s why we’re going to rebuild,” she said.

1 / 37 Silence hangs over Paradise,Calif., after the explosive Camp fire burned through Butte County and claimed 23 lives. Residents have not been allowed back. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 2 / 37 President Donald Trump meets California Gov. Jerry Brown and Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom at Beale Air Force Base on Saturday. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) 3 / 37 US President Donald Trump views damage from wildfires with Paradise Mayor Jody Jones in Paradise, Calif. (SAUL LOEB / AFP/Getty Images) 4 / 37 President Donald Trump walks with House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., left and FEMA Administrator Brock Long, right, as he visits a neighborhood impacted by the wildfires in Paradise, Calif. (Evan Vucci / AP) 5 / 37 President Donald Trump tours the Woolsey Fire ravaged neighborhood on Dume Drive in Malibu on Saturday. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles TImes) 6 / 37 President Donald Trump, second from left, tours the Woolsey Fire ravaged neighborhood on Dume Drive in Malibu. (Genaro Molina / Los Angeles TImes) 7 / 37 From left, Johnny Hardin, 15, Madeline Hardin, 13, Donita Hardin and Erik Hardin, 15 months old, get ready to sleep in their car after getting displaced by the Camp fire, at the Walmart parking lot in Chico, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 8 / 37 Alexandria Wilson, 21, kisses her dog Harley, after they both escaped the Camp Fire in Paradise, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 9 / 37 Search and rescue teams inspect the grounds of a house burned by the Camp Fire along Boquest Boulevard in Oroville, Calif. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 10 / 37 Volunteers hand out supplies to fire evacuees near a Walmart in Chico, Calif. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 11 / 37 People go through donated clothes at a Walmart in Chico, Calif. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) 12 / 37 A sign warns looters at the site of burned-down properties in Paradise, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 13 / 37 A search and rescue team combs through the debris for possible human remains Friday at Paradise Gardens, in Paradise, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 14 / 37 Alexandria Wilson, 21, consoles her boyfriend, Jacob Golden, 25, as they recount their harrowing escape from the Camp Fire at a relative’s house in Applegate, Calif. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 15 / 37 A vanished neighborhood in Paradise. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 16 / 37 A forensic team investigates the site of a Paradise home where remains were found. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 17 / 37 Michael John Ramirez hugs his wife, Charlie Ramirez, after they found her keepsake bracelet while sifting through the remains of their home in Paradise. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 18 / 37 Religious figurines sit atop a burned vehicle in Paradise. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 19 / 37 Authorities recover the remains of a fire victim from an overturned car alongside Pearson Road in Paradise. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) 20 / 37 David Neeley hugs his ex-wife, Jeanne Neely, and their daughter, Faith Neeley, 10, in a parking lot in Oroville, where they are staying amid the Camp fire. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 21 / 37 Megan Butler, 26, and her daughter Aurora, 2, are homeless after their house burned down in Concow in the Camp fire. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 22 / 37 Yolo County Animal Services Officer Stephanie Amato holds a chicken she helped rescue in Paradise. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 23 / 37 Smoke fills the sky as the Camp fire continues to burn along the North Fork of the Feather River. It has already burned more than 200,000 square miles. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 24 / 37 A sign in Paradise offers a warning for would-be looters. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 25 / 37 A man rests at a shelter at the Church of the Nazarene in Oroville, Calif. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 26 / 37 Outside of Pulga, Calif., on the North Fork of the Feather River, the Camp fire continues to burn. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 27 / 37 Outside of Pulga, Calif., on the North Fork of the Feather River, where the Camp fire may have started, helicopters do airdrops while ground crews try to keep the fire from spreading. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 28 / 37 Firefighter Brian Carter of Weed, Calif., keeps an eye on the flames along the North Fork of the Feather River. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 29 / 37 Many people don’t want to stay in shelters because they can’t take their dogs inside. This dog waits for his human companion in a parking lot in Oroville. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 30 / 37 Residents of Paradise, Calif., try to get through a roadblock to check on their home but are turned away. People haven’t been allowed to return to the town. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 31 / 37 The Camp fire burns along a ridgetop near Big Bend, Calif., on Saturday. (Noah Berger / AP) 32 / 37 Yuba County sheriff’s officials carry a body away from a burned residence in Paradise. (Josh Edelson / AFP/Getty Images) 33 / 37 A crew from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection walks through the rubble of a home while putting out hot spots in Paradise, Calif. (Mason Trinca / For The Times) 34 / 37 Flames and embers, pushed by strong dry winds, set the town of Paradise, Calif., ablaze. Thousands of buildings were destroyed. (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times) 35 / 37 Brad Weldon, 63, waits for help along Skyway in Paradise, Calif. Weldon was among the residents who stayed and battled the wildfire. (Mason Trinca / For The Times) 36 / 37 Fire crews put out hot spots in Paradise, Calif. (Mason Trinca / For The Times) 37 / 37 Firefighters walk through the rubble of a home in Paradise, Calif. (Mason Trinca / For The Times)

RELATED: Here’s where the Camp fire destroyed homes in California »


Jim Broshears, the town’s emergency operations center coordinator, told the audience of more than 100 that the town will rebuild.

“We’re determined to start rebuilding the community — from you, up,” he said. “You are the foundation of the community.”

But Mark Brown, the deputy incident commander for the fire, said the breadth of the devastation was like nothing he’d ever seen.

“It’s at the scale of unprecedented magnitude,” he said.


In Southern California, fire officials were optimistic Thursday that improved weather might help them get the upper hand against the devastating Woolsey fire. The blaze has charred 98,362 acres and claimed three lives in Los Angeles and Ventura counties since it broke out last week. More than 500 structures have been destroyed.

Firefighters stopped the fire’s expansion and increased containment to 62% by Thursday evening. The gains came as strong winds that battered the region for three days finally diminished — a welcome development for those on the front lines.

“I think we’re all hoping today will be a turning point for us in this fight,” said California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Chris Anthony. “But we’re not ramping down. This is a huge fire, and there’s still a lot of containment that needs to be done.”

Authorities are urging residents to stay cautious as the rainy season approaches and to prepare for potential mudflows in burned-out areas. Rain could arrive in the Los Angeles area late next week, according to extended weather forecasts. But meteorologists with the National Weather Service said it’s too soon to tell how much — if any — rain to expect.


Across Northern California on Friday, people were dealing with unhealthy air quality from the fire.

Unrelenting smoke smothers everything in Chico. The acidic and sour haze hangs on hair, skin and clothes. Some evacuees don’t have access to showers and clean towels, and the smoke from the deadly Camp fire feels impossible to escape.

Hair is like a sponge and absorbs the smoke, said Holly Little, owner of Bleached Salon. The small salon on Manzanita Avenue is one of several offering free hair washes, blowouts and more to evacuees.

At the nail counter, Paradise resident Laina Floraday was getting a free manicure Friday after finding out about the service from a friend.


Floraday fled the Camp fire with her two young children, including one who has special needs, and her three dogs. Her house, her childhood home that she bought, was destroyed. Her husband spent four hours trapped near Pentz Road Market and eventually got out.

“It was traumatizing,” Floraday said.

She swapped stories about the fire and its aftermath with Megan Killingsworth, another Bleached Salon owner. Killingsworth said the salon started offering the services because she and Little felt helpless.

“We don’t have money to give people,” she said. Her phone buzzed with texts from displaced people seeking to book appointments.


Before leaving, Floraday took a free dry hairwash sample and an air mask from the salon.

At JCPenney’s hair salon at the Chico Mall, an elderly woman — an evacuee from the fire — was getting her hair washed Friday in one of the salon’s black chairs. Her head was back, her eyes were closed.

A few hundred people, men and women, have come in for the salon’s free hair services since the fire broke out, assistant manager Michelle Alconero said.

She said it wasn’t a corporate decision — stylists decided to offer the services to evacuees.


“It’s a moment to be normal,” Alconero said. “There’s a lot of stress.”

Santa Cruz reported from Chico, Tchekmedyian and Panzar from Los Angeles. Times staff writers Joseph Serna, Melissa Etehad, Hannah Fry and Sarah Parvini contributed to this report.

Made homeless by flames, Camp fire evacuees face hardship, disease and desperation »

alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com | Twitter: @AleneTchek


nicole.santacruz@latimes.com | Twitter: @nicolesantacruz

javier.panzar@latimes.com | Twitter: @jpanzar

UPDATES:

6:35 p.m.: This article was updated with revised numbers on the dead and missing.


5 p.m.: This article was updated with scene from Chico.

10:55 a.m.: This article was updated with new details.

This article was originally posted at 5 a.m.