The Camp Fire Is Now Totally Contained

Now that the Camp Fire is totally contained, families can start going back to search their homes, but some rain in the forecast might mean mudslides.

By nowproducerdave on November 26, 2018
(Photo by Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images)

This is good news to start the week – the Camp Fire that destroyed so many homes near Chico is 100% contained as of yesterday. Here are the latest stats on the fire, and some details about how it was contained.

In total, the fire was about 153,336 in size, burning much of that land. There were over 13,000 homes that burned, and is officially the most destructive in California’s history. It’s also being called the deadliest fire in the United States in over 100 years. There were 85 people who lost their lives in the fire, and there are still 296 people missing. However, many of those missing people may not even know that someone is looking for them and aren’t aware they’re on a list. The list could contain duplicate names as well. The fire started on November 8th around 6:30 in the morning, and spread extremely quickly due to the wind.

The fire reached total containment yesterday, due in part to the rain that we got over the weekend. The 1,000 firefighters were working in shifts over 17 days to knock the fire back, and the 3-days of rain really helped. The unfortunate thing now is that with all that rain may come mudslides. There’s more rain in the forecast this week, and mudslides will put a dangerous risk on the searching crews are doing for human remains. It also threatens to totally cover up some areas where houses once stood.

Evacuation shelters are overloaded with victims from the fire. Another problem in the shelters is disease – specifically norovirus. When you have that many people living in cramped and overcrowded conditions, disease is going to spread. Walmart parking lots are loaded with tents where people have been staying as well. When over 13,000 homes burn, that’s a lot of families who need to go somewhere. The unfortunate truth is that a lot of these families are now effectively homeless. Many have nowhere nearby to go, and some even just have absolutely nowhere to go at all.

There’s a lot of information on how to help here, as well as the benefit concert that we’re putting on. All the money from the tickets is going to help the Salvation Army and their Camp Fire assistance.

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