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71 dead, 1,011 missing: How the Camp Fire got this bad

Everyone wants to know how this happened. It's a bigger question than it seems, and it could take a long while to answer it fully. But there are some fundamental truths we do know already.

It has been a parade of misery for eight long days since the Camp Fire destroyed the small foothills town of Paradise and several smaller communities around it.

Each day the number of dead and missing grows. As of this writing, there are 71 dead and 1,011 unaccounted for. If there’s any silver lining, it’s that the sheriff isn’t confident in the number of missing— cautioning that the list may contain duplicates.

RELATED: Death toll stands at 71, more than 1,000 still missing | Camp Fire Updates

Tens of thousands of people lost their homes. 12,263 structures are destroyed — the vast majority of them residential.

Naturally, everyone wants to know how this all happened. It’s a bigger question than it seems, and it could take a long time to answer it fully.

But there are some fundamental truths we do know already.

We will detail a few here, in the hopes that we can all begin to better understand how this destruction and loss of life happened on a scale we’ve never seen.

MOST OF THE DEAD DIED IN THEIR HOMES

Of the 71 victims of the Camp Fire, 47 were found dead in homes or buildings.

That is two-thirds of the deaths we know about so far.

Twelve people were found dead in cars. Cars burned on streets in a couple of parts of Paradise. We also know two of these cases were in the smaller community of Concow just to the East.

Another 12 people were found dead outside. These case may take the longest to understand

Crews have done a thorough job of checking cars in the burn area. This week, most had markings on them from search crews.

The death toll is likely to keep rising and likely to be skewed toward more people found in structures.

MANY COULD NOT EVACUATE ON THEIR OWN

A lot of survivors tell us they know people who either cannot or do not drive. Some people in and around Paradise relied on the bus system to get around.

We do not yet have the age of everyone who is missing or dead, but we do have a lot of them — and the vast majority are seniors, many in their 70s, 80s and 90s.

Exact information on the age of victims will take time to learn, but we can tell you for certain that the burn area has a lot more disabled and elderly people than average.

US Census data show a quarter of the people in Paradise were over age 65. That is almost double the number of elderly people we have per capita statewide in California.

In addition, almost one in five people under 65-years-old in Paradise are disabled. That is a rate almost three times the state average.

WIND AND EMBERS SPREAD THIS FIRE SO QUICKLY

The wind pushed a shroud of black smoke downhill over Paradise, blotting out the sun. In the darkness, we witnessed the embers that spread this fire.

The destruction did not come from a wall of burning trees. The wind created a blowing hailstorm of embers.

The embers landed in every crack and crevice: awnings of buildings, piles of leaves and pine needles.

The fire moved faster than the evacuation did and overtook the town while people were trying to escape.

You will find Ponderosa pine trees in town that survived because they are actually somewhat fire resistant, but the ground beneath them was a tinder box in this community.

In these low-lying foothills, the ground was covered with grass, brush, and dead material ready to burn with one spark.

But there was not just one spark. There were millions of embers blowing in high wind.


RELATED: "California Wildfires: The New Normal" is ABC10's new 9-part series on how wildfires are changing lives across Northern California.

Watch Now: Episode 7: "Fighting to Rebuild." Even with insurance, the road to recovery from losing everything to a wildfire can be a long one. Over a year later, residents of the Coffey Park neighborhood in Santa Rosa are still fighting to rebuild their lives.

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