Among those missing is Terry Poliquin, whose family has not heard from him since the fire came through Magalia, where he lived alone in a mobile home. Like many living on the margins in Magalia, Mr. Poliquin, 62, did not have a car and his health “was not great,” according to his daughter, Alysha Martin.

Ms. Martin reported him missing on Nov. 12, four days after the fire, but she still has no information about him even after speaking to sheriff’s detectives on three occasions. As they wait for official news from county investigators, she and her siblings have done everything they can think of to find him on their own; they checked the Red Cross website, shelters, hospitals. They also reached out to friends on his Facebook profile, hoping someone had seen him.

They are losing hope that he is alive, she said.

“He would have contacted us,” she said. “At least he would have tried. It’s just not like him. I just want answers, and if he did pass away at least that would let me know what happened to him.”

The official list of the missing was gleaned from thousands of emails and the anguished recordings of family members who called 911 during the confused hours when Paradise and neighboring towns were engulfed by fire. Sheriff Honea said the list includes every person declared missing; he stressed it was a raw, preliminary accounting that was being worked through methodically. With every opportunity he has repeated that he needs the public’s cooperation to help whittle down the list, removing those who are safe.

“We are looking in our own record system to see if we have other contacts for them,” he said. “We are looking on their social media pages to try and see if they’ve checked in somewhere; and we are actually going out to locations to see if there is some indication of whether they made it out.”

Jori Green, 68 of Magalia.

Norman Grimsey, 79, and Toni Grimsey, 75, of Paradise.

Donald Hardin, 81, of Magalia.