The burnt remains of 14 more people have been found in the Northern Californian town of Paradise, a mountain community 90 miles north of Sacramento. This takes the death toll of Thursday's wildfire to 25, with 35 more people unaccounted for.
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California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Scott Maclean said no details were available about the circumstances of the deaths but the victims' badly burned condition would make identification difficult.
The fire destroyed over 6,700 homes and businesses in Paradise, while the rising death toll could make it the most devastating fire-related atrocity in California state since the Griffith Park Fire in 1933 and Tunnel Fire in 1991.
The flames descended on Paradise so fast that many people were forced to abandon their vehicles and run for their lives down the sole road through the mountain town.
The fire has destroyed at least 177 homes and has now charred more than 83,000 acres as of late Saturday, officials said in a release. "Our firefighters have been facing some extreme, tough fire conditions that they said that they've never seen in their lives," said Los Angeles County Fire Chief Daryl Osby.
The Woolsey Fire broke out on Thursday in Ventura County near Los Angeles and rapidly spread along the 101 Freeway, eventually crossing the Santa Monica Mountains toward Malibu by Saturday.