Page 4 - ARUBA TODAY

A4 U.S. NEWS
Friday 13 OctOber 2017
Searchers look for bodies in California’s charred ruins

started looking for bodies erase modest gains made
Thursday in parts of Califor- by firefighters.
nia wine country devastat- “We are not out of this
ed by wildfires, authorities emergency. We are not
said, sounding a warning even close to being out
that more dead were al- of this emergency,” Emer-
most sure to emerge from gency Operations Director
the charred ruins. Mark Ghilarducci told a
At least 26 people have news conference Thursday.
died and some 3,500 More than 8,000 firefight-
homes and businesses ers were battling the blazes
have been destroyed by and more manpower and
the blazes, which were well equipment was pouring
on their way to becoming in from across the country
the deadliest and most de- and from as far as Australia
structive in California his- and Canada, officials said.
tory.Sonoma County Sheriff The ferocious fires that
Robert Giordano said of- started Sunday leveled
ficials were still investigat- entire neighborhoods in
ing hundreds of reports of parts of Sonoma and Napa
missing people and that re- counties. In anticipation of
covery teams would soon the next round of flames,
begin conducting “target- entire cities evacuated,
Firefighters put out a hot spot from a wildfire Thursday, Oct. 12, 2017, near Calistoga, Calif. Com-
munities in wildfire-prone Northern California have an array of emergency systems designed to ed searches” for specific leaving their streets empty,
alert residents of danger: text messages, phone calls, emails and tweets. But after days of raging residents at their last known with the only motion com-
blazes left at least 23 dead, authorities said those methods will be assessed after some residents addresses. ing from ashes falling like
complained those warnings never got through. “We have found bodies snowflakes.
(AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) almost completely intact, Fire officials are investigat-
By ELLEN KNICKMEYER Associated Press Search-and-rescue teams, and we have found bod- ing downed power lines
JOCELYN GECKER SONOMA, Calif. (AP) — some with cadaver dogs, ies that were nothing more and other utility equipment
than ash and bones,” the failures as possible causes
sheriff said. of the fires, said California
Some remains have been Department of Forestry
identified using medical and Fire Protection spokes-
devices that turned up in woman Janet Upton. She
the scorched heaps that said it’s unclear if downed
were once homes. power lines and live wires
“There have been IDs in this resulted from fires or start-
case, in a pile of ash and ed them.Jennifer Robison
bone, where there was a of Pacific Gas and Elec-
piece of metal left from tric Co. says the utility is fo-
somebody’s surgery, like cused on restoring power
a hip replacement, with and maintaining safety.
an ID number that helped She says they will not spec-
us identify the person,” he ulate about the causes
said. of the fires.An estimated
Winds up to 45 mph (72 25,000 people have been
kph) were expected Thurs- driven from their homes by
day in areas north of San the flames, officials said.
Francisco and stronger, A few left behind cook-
more erratic wind gusts ies for firefighters and signs
were forecast for Friday. reading, “Please save our
Those conditions could home!”q
TV news report leads man to

old shirt, $24 million jackpot

NEW YORK (AP) — A New completed.
Jersey man says a televi- The retired security guard
sion news report led him told lottery officials he’s
to check lottery tickets he been buying lottery tick-
had stuffed in an old shirt, ets in New York and New
and one was a $24 million Jersey since the 1960s but
winner. doesn’t rush to see wheth-
Jimmie Smith, of East Or- er he’s won. He said he’d
ange, claimed a $24.1 mil- check them when he had
lion New York lottery jack- the time.Smith says he
pot on May 23, two days bought the ticket from a
before the prize would grocery and tobacco shop
have expired. in Manhattan’s Tribeca
The New York Lottery re- neighborhood.He chose to
leased his name Wednes- receive the payout over 26
day after a review was years. q