Days after the flames swept through Paradise, dense smoke still hangs over this town whose residents are mostly gone. They fled to nearby towns along traffic-choked roads leading away from the small California community that was popular with retirees.
Some residents didn’t make it out. Authorities say at least 56 people died in the Northern California wildfire known as the Camp Fire, which has burned through at least 215 square miles of land and consumed Paradise.
Others are still missing, though official numbers have fluctuated wildly. The Butte County Sheriff’s Office said late Wednesday that 130 people were missing; on Thursday morning, the list had grown to more than 300.
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