QUINCY, Calif. (Reuters) – At least eight people were missing Saturday as one of the worst wildfires in the nation scorched through Northern California communities, forest and tinder dry scrub in the Sierra Nevada mountains, destroying a historic gold rush town. Even as the calmer, less windy weather gave firefighters a break overnight with the Dixie fire, the third largest fire in California’s history, the Pulmas County Sheriff’s Office released the somber news. “We have received reports of eight unaccounted for individuals,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement, asking for the public’s help in finding them. Five of the missing belong to the old mining town of Greenville where blazes leveled most of its downtown, about 160 miles north of Sacramento. (Reporting by by Fred Greaves in California, and writing and additional reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by David Gregorio)

Source: MetroXpress August 07, 2021 18:33 UTC