Death toll expected to rise in California fires

(NBC News) – At least 31 people are dead and hundreds more are unaccounted for as three major wildfires burn across California.

Hundreds of thousands have been forced to evacuate their homes.

The Camp Fire, burning north of San Francisco, has killed at least 29 people, matching the deadliest fire in the state’s history. The Griffith Park fire of 1933 also left 29 people dead.

Much of the city of Paradise was completely destroyed by the blaze, which has consumed more than 111,000 acres.

In Southern California, the massive Woolsey Fire has destroyed 85,000 acres, killed two people.

A quarter million people were forced to evacuate from Ventura and Los Angeles Counties.

Thousands of homes are gone, and tens of thousands more are at risk.

The fires are moving in so fast, some residents were taken by surprise and forced to drive through flames to escape.

“The lights in the car in front of me were melting,” Nichole Jolly recalls. “Two firemen came out of this truck and put a blanket over me and said ‘You’re okay’.”