Camp Fire is one of the two deadliest wildfires in California history

The death toll in Northern California’s Camp Fire has reached historic levels.

With 29 people killed, the massive blaze is one of the two deadliest of any single fire in state history, though a series of wildfires in Northern California wine country last fall killed 44 people and destroyed more than 5,000 homes.

The Camp Fire is currently 25% contained. More than 200 people remain missing, especially in and around the hard-hit town of Paradise in Butte County.

Sol Bechtold drove from shelter to shelter looking for his mother, Joanne Caddy, a 75-year-old widow whose house burned down along with the rest of her neighborhood in Magalia, just north of Paradise. She lived alone and did not drive.

As he drove through the smoke and haze to yet another shelter, he said, “I’m also under a dark emotional cloud. Your mother’s somewhere and you don’t know where she’s at. You don’t know if she’s safe.”

PHOTOS: Camp Fire burns through Butte County, California

The only other wildfire to cause 29 deaths in California was the Griffith Park Fire in Los Angeles County 25 years ago.

Here are the deadliest wildfires in California history:

1. CAMP FIRE – (Butte County), November 2018
Deaths: 29
Structures destroyed: 6,713
Acres burned: 113,000
NOTE: Figures accurate as of Nov. 12

1. GRIFFITH PARK – (Los Angeles County), October 1993
Deaths: 29
Structures destroyed: 0
Acres burned: 47

3. TUNNEL FIRE – Oakland Hills (Alameda County), October 1991
Deaths: 25
Structures destroyed: 2,900
Acres burned: 1,600

4. TUBBS (Napa and Sonoma counties), October 2017

Deaths: 22
Structures destroyed: 5,643
Acres burned: 36,807

5. CEDAR FIRE (San Diego County), October 2003
Deaths: 15
Structures destroyed: 2,820
Acres burned: 273,246

6. RATTLESNAKE (Glenn County), July 1953
Deaths: 15
Structures destroyed: 0
Acres burned: 1,340

7. LOOP (Los Angeles County), November 1966
Deaths: 12
Structures destroyed: 0
Acres burned: 2,028

8. HAUSER CREEK (San Diego County), October 1943
Deaths: 11
Structures destroyed: 0
Acres burned: 13.145

9. INAJA (San Diego County), November 1956
Deaths: 11
Structures destroyed: 0
Acres burned: 43,904

10. IRON ALPS COMPLEX (Trinity County), August 2008
Deaths: 10
Structures destroyed: 10
Acres burned: 105,855

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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