Sonoma and Mendocino crews assist in search for Camp fire victims

Search and rescue volunteers and forensic experts from Sonoma and Mendocino counties have joined the somber hunt for burned-out homesites for signs of more than 100 people still reported missing after the Camp fire leveled the Butte County town of Paradise and surrounding communities.

So far, Butte County sheriff’s officials have confirmed 56 people died in California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire, a tally that is expected to rise as a skilled volunteer force swelled to about 400, with detectives, officers, trained volunteers and cadaver dog teams going property to property.

The painstaking work in still smoldering rubble is a haunting reminder of the search for victims last year after major wildfires broke out in October, forcing tens of thousands of people to flee across Sonoma, Mendocino, Napa and Lake counties. At their peak, Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office was investigating reports of 2,150 missing people. Ultimately, the death toll in the North Bay reached 40 people.

The search work is crucial for people desperately waiting for information about the missing. Also, authorities must clear each area of human remains and hazards before allowing residents to return to their burned properties.

“The devastation is the same, but over here it’s on a bigger scale,” said Sonoma County Sheriff’s Deputy Mark Aldridge, who was credited with ensuring the survival of more than 30 people trapped at Mark West Lodge while the 2017 Tubbs firestorm burned all around them.

“I’m trying to fathom that the town of Paradise is gone,” he said. “To be honest with you, I never thought something worse (than the 2017 fires) would happen.”

North Coast Assemblyman Jim Wood, D-Santa Rosa, also is assisting in identifying human remains from the fire. Wood is an expert in forensic dentistry and is the designated forensic dentist for the North Bay, having worked in disasters such as the Sept. 11 attacks, Hurricane Katrina and last year’s wildfires.

Wood said he would be working seven to 10 days in the effort, both out of Butte County and in Sacramento. He is part of a small team brought in to help overwhelmed Butte County officials.

“I did all the cases in Sonoma County (in 2017) on my own,” Wood said. “This is a little different situation ... It’s a small county.”

Aldridge, along with Deputy Patrick Sharp and a six-person Sonoma County volunteer team arrived about dawn Tuesday and spent a 12-hour shift in hazmat suits and hardhats, searching properties linked to missing person reports. They worked alongside a Chico State University anthropologist and a cadaver dog, and spent the night on cots in a high school gym.

On Wednesday, the mission was more broad, as explained during a morning briefing: Search every burned out property, the crews were told. The Sonoma team focused on a portion of western Paradise on and around Del Rio Way.

Ground-level smoke hovered around workers in the rugged, forested community. On the fire line, firefighters continued battling the week-old fire, reported at 138,000 acres Wednesday night.

Volunteers described a surreal scene with wildlife and lost pets, dirty, thirsty and hungry, approaching them as they shoveled through debris.

A large, male cat with yellow fur matted by ash followed a team from the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office and search and rescue team for several hours Wednesday as they combed through properties on one road in Paradise, said Sgt. Andrew Porter, who led a group of nine volunteers.

Porter described tedious and dangerous work, with hazardous chemicals and fire-weakened trees all around. They focused their inspection on areas where a person’s remains were most likely to be found - in bedrooms, in bathrooms and in vehicles.

Porter was a detective sergeant in 2017 when fire leveled much of the Redwood Valley in Mendocino County, and he spent time on a specialized team looking for human remains.

“This is a much larger scale,” Porter said. “This is like 20 Redwood Valleys.”

More volunteers from Sonoma and Mendocino counties were expected to arrive before dawn today to refresh the teams. They will continue working through the end of the week and possibly the weekend, depending on how long it takes to track down survivors among the missing and find the remains of those who died.

You can reach Staff Writer Julie Johnson at 707-521-5220 or julie.johnson@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jjpressdem.