Californian fire controlled but worst to come
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The deadliest and most destructive fire in California鈥檚 history has finally been brought totally under control by firefighters, more than two weeks after it erupted.
The so-called Camp Fire, which broke out on November 8, is so far known to have killed 85 people.
The Butte County Sheriff鈥檚 department has increased the number of missing people to 296 from 249 鈥 still considerably lower than the 474 reported missing on Friday.
鈥#CampFire ... is now 100% contained,鈥 Cal Fire, the state fire authority, said in a bulletin on Twitter on Sunday.
Only 54 of the fatalities have been identified, according to the local sheriff鈥檚 office in Butte County, a rural area north of the state capital Sacramento.
A total of 62,000 hectares were affected by the fire, with nearly 14,000 homes and hundreds of other structures destroyed.
Heavy downfalls that have soaked the fire zone in the past days helped douse the remaining flames, but also made it more difficult for crews searching for bodies.
The Camp Fire was the second major blaze to hit California in recent weeks with a fire in the Malibu area near Los Angeles also killing three people.
The smoke from the Camp Fire was so intense that schools in San Francisco had to close at one point earlier this month as did the city鈥檚 famed cable car and Alcatraz Island.
President Donald Trump, who visited one of the worst-hit towns called Paradise last weekend, caused some consternation by saying that the fires were due in part to forestry mismanagement.
Authorities have already begun letting residents return to some of the worst hit areas to inspect the damage to their homes.
The police and fire service said evacuation orders that had been in place for some areas over the last fortnight were being lifted for both residents and non-residents, while warning that essential services were still 鈥渧ery limited.鈥
鈥淧rior to returning home, residents are encouraged to take steps to ensure they have food, water and fuel for their vehicles,鈥 said the statement.
California鈥檚 governor Jerry Brown has warned that mega fires such as those in Butte and Malibu will cease to be 鈥渁bnormal鈥 events due to global warming, and the state has allocated about US$1 billion over the next five years for fire prevention.
Much of the cash will go on education and suppression activities such as clearing grasses and other vegetation.
But many experts are calling for more restrictions on housing being built in forests.
鈥淚 think people are thinking about if there is a way we can design the new Paradise that can look like more of a European village or a ski town, and not have houses out in the forests,鈥 said Bill Stewart, co-director of the Center for Forestry at the University of California, Berkeley.
A recent study found that one third of all US houses now are located in what researchers refer to as the wildland-urban interface.
A new report by Trump鈥檚 own administration has warned that climate change will cost the US hundreds of billions of dollars annually by the century鈥檚 end unless drastic action is taken to cut carbon emissions.
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