14 October 2017 12:00 am
SANTA ROSA AFP OCT13, 2017 -The death toll from raging California wildfires rose to 31 Thursday as body recovery teams used cadaver dogs to locate victims, making it the deadliest series of blazes in the state’s history. The fires, which began on Sunday, have swept through California’s wine country, leaving thousands of people homeless and burning over 190,000 acres (76,000 hectares) of land. Gusty winds on Thursday were hampering the efforts of the 8,000 firefighters battling 20 blazes, and weather conditions were not forecast to improve. “What this means is that our fires will continue to burn erratically,” California fire chief Ken Pimlott told a news conference. “They have the potential to shift in any direction at any time. “We are a long way from being done with this catastrophe,” he said.