A California wildfire has killed dozens of people, leveled an entire town in California, and spared a single U.S. flag.
Elk Grove Police Department said officers driving down Ripley Lane in the Butte County town of Paradise spotted a flagpole and flag without any damage.
“Every house had been leveled, nothing left, except a flag pole that was standing with flag in almost perfect condition. Our officers documented the address and secured the flag in hopes to return it to the owners one day,” the department said in a statement.
Coroners Search for Victims of Fire
The blue of an unfurled body bag has become a gut-wrenching splash of color in an apocalyptic landscape as pressure mounts to account for the hundreds of missing people.
Coroner search teams, many accompanied by a chaplain, have fanned out to visit dozens of addresses that belong to people reported missing since the blaze leveled the town of 27,000. At least 42 people are confirmed dead, making it the deadliest fire in Californian history.
Search crews employ a grim calculus at each scene: no cars in the driveway is good, one car a little more ominous, and multiple burned-out vehicles calls for extra vigilance.
When a body is found, a call goes out, yellow police tape goes up, and the blue body bag arrives. In many cases, there are few remains to collect. The long bag looks almost empty as it is carefully carried out of the ruins, and placed in a black hearse.
Mike Carlson began looking for his mother, Barbara Carlson, her sister Shirley Haley, and their dog Strawberry after learning about the wildfire on the night of Thursday, Nov. 8.
On Sunday night, two deputies came to Carlson’s door with the news he didn’t want to hear. A fire engine crew doing a check of homes had found two bodies at his mother’s address on Heavenly Place.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
