Statewide death toll from California wildfire climbs to 86

US authorities said on Friday that there has been one more fatality in the California Camp wildfire, bringing the death toll to 86.

They said 95 percent fire has been contained in northern California.

The blaze that started on November 8 levelled Paradise, about 280 kms north east of San Francisco, destroying more than 13,000 homes. 

The Butte County Sheriff's Office said more than 563 names remain on the missing list.

Authorities stressed that many of the people on the list may be safe and unaware they have been reported missing.

TRT World's Harry Horton brings more from Paradise, California.

Search on for victims' remains

Hundreds of volunteers and police officers spent the Thanksgiving holiday combing through the wreckage of California's deadliest wildfire, searching for the remains of victims killed in the blaze as rains looked set to complicate their work.

"We haven't taken the day off," Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said in a video message posted online on Thanksgiving. Some 820 searchers were in the field, he said, sifting ash and rubble for human remains.

"This has been a tough situation for all of us," Honea said.

Searchers in and around Paradise were expecting heavy rains late on Thursday that could hinder their efforts.

Between 10-15 cm of rain were forecast to fall by the weekend.

The rains raise the risk of mudslides in areas where the wildfire stripped hillsides of vegetation that would typically hold down the earth.

After rains helped douse the Camp Fire in recent days, about 900 firefighters were holding the blaze in check, said Scott McLean, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman. The fire is now 90-percent contained.

"It's wet and muddy, that's the issue on the fire line," McLean said.

Warehouses were opened in Chico, a city a few kms west of Paradise, to provide shelter from the cold and rain to residents who lost their homes. Celebrity chef Jose Andres and other culinary professionals cooked hundreds of Thanksgiving meals for evacuees.

Thanksgiving meals

Firefighters taking a break from the battle against the remnants of the blaze also helped serve Thanksgiving meals.

The cooking and serving of Thanksgiving meals was led by World Central Kitchen, a charity group founded by Andres.

By the end of the day, the team expected to have served 10,000 to 15,000 meals to people at several locations in the area including Red Cross shelters, said Sam Chapple-Sokol, a spokesman for the effort. Among the celebrity chefs on hand was television personality Guy Fieri, he said.

Katya Phillips, 33, and her family lost their home in Paradise, but she was among the volunteers on Thursday feeding evacuees at California State University in Chico.

"Not only did I lose my house, I did also lose my car, but I haven't lost my heart so I'm here helping others," Phillips said by telephone.

Cause being ascertained

The cause of the Camp Fire, which destroyed more than 13,500 homes, remains under investigation.

The state is undertaking the largest single wildfire cleanup operation in its history to remove toxic and radioactive ash and debris at burned home sites, officials said.

A separate California wildfire — the Woolsey Fire, which killed three people and threatened the wealthy beachfront enclave of Malibu near Los Angeles — was declared 100-percent contained on Wednesday.

The rains in northern California, which in some areas were likely to be accompanied by winds of up to 72 kph, raised risks of ravines turning into rivers of mud. The Camp Fire has burned across 153,336 acres of the Sierra foothills.

Asked about the effects of rain on the search for remains, Honea said it would make going through debris more difficult but he was less concerned about remains washing away than the headaches posed by mud.

Still, he said some remains might never be found.

"What we're looking for in many respects are very small bone fragments so, as we go forward, it's certainly possible that not all of them will be located," Honea said.