Relentless California wildfires leave 79 dead, nearly 1,300 others still missing

The number of people who remain missing in the wake of a pair of ferocious wildfires that have been blazing across both ends of California for more than a week spiked to nearly 1,300 late Saturday.

The two monstrous blazes which both ignited last week have claimed a total of 79 lives while laying waste to a total area of nearly 400 square miles, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Officials said that 63 of the remains have been positively identified so far.

The number of people missing or unaccounted for in Butte County grew to 1,011 by Friday, and 1,276 by late Saturday, though those figures may continue to fluctuate as authorities track down the names on the list, according to Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.

President Donald Trump arrived in California on Sunday to survey the devastation and meet with firefighters, alongside California Gov. Jerry Brown and the state's governor-elect, Gavin Newsom.

The Camp Fire in Northern California

The Camp Fire ignited Nov. 8 near Pulga, a tiny community in Butte County nestled in the Plumas National Forest. The blaze exploded as strong winds fanned the flames southwest, enveloping the town of Paradise, a bucolic community of 27,000 people in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

The fire has virtually decimated the entire town.

Melissa Schuster, a Paradise town council member, said her house was among those leveled by the Camp Fire.