Calif. wildfires bring record 31 deaths

Fires are raging on both ends of California. Photo/CalFire

By Associated Press

The latest on wildfires in California as of Oct. 12 at 6:15pm:

Northern California’s wildfires have now killed 31 people — making this the deadliest week of wildfires in state history.

Sonoma County Sheriff Robert Giordano said Thursday night that two more people have been confirmed dead there. That raises the statewide death total from 29 to 31.

The Oakland Hills fire of 1991 killed 25 people by itself, and the Griffith Park fire in Los Angeles in 1933 killed 29.

While no single fire currently burning has killed as many as those, state fire Deputy Director Daniel Berlant says collectively this is the deadliest series of simultaneous fires in the state in recorded history.

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