California fire toll rises to 35

The death toll from California’s wildfires rose to 35 on Saturday, with more than 10,000 firefighters battling 16 large blazes and 100,000 people evacuated, officials said.

Around 335 square miles (864 square kilometers) of residential neighborhoods, forests and other property have been burned since Sunday, according to CalFire.

“These fires have been extremely destructive with 5,700 structures estimated to have been destroyed. While crews continue their search for missing people, the death toll has risen to 35,” the service said in a statement.

“Red flag warnings remain in effect across northern California due to strong north winds, which have already increased fire activity. Those winds are forecast through the day and expected to decrease by late tonight.”

Predawn winds in Santa Rosa have complicated the effort, pushing the Nuns Fire in two separate directions and forcing thousands to evacuate their homes near Oakmont and northeast of the city of Sonoma, CalFire said.

Numerous churches across the region — in Santa Rosa, Napa, Sonoma, Petaluma and Novato — were housing victims of the wildfires and serving as resting places for firefighters, according to the Sacramento Bee newspaper.

The last week has been the deadliest for wildfires in California’s history, according to officials.

The Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles County in 1933 killed at least 29 people, and 25 people died in the 1991 Oakland Hills fire.

Sonoma County Sheriff Rob Giordano said Friday his department was continuing to track down people reported missing by family or friends.

The Sonoma County Sheriff’s Department had received 1,308 missing persons reports so far and 1,052 people have been located, Giordano said.

Evacuation orders remained in place meanwhile for several towns in California’s wine-producing Napa and Sonoma counties, where hundreds of people have already lost their homes to the fast-moving infernos.

More than 3,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed across the state.