California authorities take DNA samples to identify fire victims

Paradise, United States: California authorities were taking DNA samples from relatives on Thursday to help identify victims of the western US state´s deadly wildfires and seeking to track down some 300 missing persons.

At least 59 deaths have been reported so far from the sprawling blazes in northern and southern California and the toll is expected to rise as body recovery teams with sniffer dogs conduct house-to-house searches.

Fifty-six of the deaths and most of those unaccounted for are from the Butte County town of Paradise in northern California, which was decimated by the so-called Camp Fire that erupted a week ago.

The Butte County Sheriff´s Office published a list late Wednesday of about 300 people who are missing. Some may have fled their homes and not been in touch with family and friends but others are believed to have died in the fast-moving Camp Fire.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said 461 search and rescue personnel and 22 "cadaver dogs" were involved in the effort to locate the missing and DNA testing was being expedited to identify victims.

He said 47 of the 56 fatalities have been tentatively identified so far using "rapid DNA" techniques.

"Beginning Thursday, anyone who believes a family member perished can provide a DNA sample," Honea said.

Paradise, a town of around 26,000 in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, was popular with retirees and many of those reported missing by the sheriff´s office are elderly -- in their 70s, 80s and 90s.

Virtually every home in Paradise, located 80 miles (130 kilometers) north of the state capital Sacramento, was destroyed by the fire fueled by high winds.

Body recovery teams are conducting a painstaking search of burned-out homes for human remains in the town and closely examining the many charred cars littering the roads.

The 56 deaths reported from the Camp Fire make it the deadliest blaze in California´s recent history. Three people have died in the Woolsey Fire northwest of Los Angeles.