17 missing in California wildfire
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The fire has charred nearly 84,000 acres (34,000 hectares), an area nearly three times the size of San Francisco, since erupting on Monday near Redding, a city of 90,000 people about 160 miles (260 kms) north of the state capital Sacramento.
The blaze was one of about a dozen major wildfires burning across California on Saturday and of nearly 90 overall from Texas to Oregon.
Driven by gale-force winds Thursday night, it exploded into a firestorm that leaped the Sacramento River and engulfed whole neighborhoods in and around Redding, sending thousands of people fleeing for their lives in a chaotic evacuation.
A private bulldozer operator on the fire line and a Redding firefighter were killed in the conflagration. The nearby town of Keswick, with a population of about 450, was reduced to ash.
Some 500 structures were destroyed, and 38,000 people remained under evacuation orders as of Saturday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
On Saturday afternoon, Redding police said they were trying to locate 17 people reported missing by relatives or friends since Thursday night. Police Sergeant Todd Cogle said the number of those unaccounted for had fluctuated during the past two days - from as many as 20 to as few as 12 - as some who were reported missing turned up safe and others were added to the list.
Counted among them were the three victims whose bodies officials said were found at an incinerated home on the outskirts of Redding.
