#16-year-old among latest victims of deadly California wildfires

As the death toll reached at least 23 by Friday — with dozens more still missing — the heartbroken mother of missing teen Josiah Williams confirmed he was one of at least 10 killed in an inferno that tore through several hamlets in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

“He was alone, terrified and ran for his life,” His mom, Jessica Williams, told CBS13 Sacramento Friday.

“My son was a good, smart, caring young boy that died alone and it kills me thinking about what he was going through.”

The station said it was not immediately clear if the teen was among the 10 listed as having perished during the North Complex fire that was already California’s deadliest blaze of the year.

At least 16 people were still officially reported as missing and at least four were hospitalized with critical burns, authorities have said.

Despite the death toll, it was not the biggest fire — with the August Complex, the product of 37 fires in and around the less populated Tehama County, becoming the largest ever recorded in California at 471,000 acres, more than twice the size of New York City.

The North Complex fire tore through Sierra Nevada foothills so quickly that fire crews were nearly engulfed, and the town of Berry Creek was gutted.

The Bobcat Fire consumes a forest in the Angeles National Forest on September in California.

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The charred remains of the Gates Elementary School in Oregon.

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The charred remains of the Gates Elementary School in Oregon.

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The Bobcat Fire

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Officials near the scene of the wildfires.

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A firefighter puts out a hot spot along Highway 38 northwest of Forrest Falls, California.

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A burnt out school bus sits on a hill after the Bear Fire, part of the North Lightning Complex Fires, past through, in Feather Falls, California

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An orange smoke-filled sky and burnt remains in Gates, Oregon.

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A Coulson 737 firefighting tanker jet drops fire retardant to slow the Bobcat Fire.

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The charred remains of a property and vehicle at the Bear fire.

EPA

A site after the fire in Feather Falls, California.

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The Bobcat Fire advances in the Angeles National Forest.

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Flames in Angeles National Forest.

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Smoke from the Bobcat Fire obscures the Morris Reservoir off Highway 39 in Los Angeles County, California.

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An orange smoke-filled sky is seen above cows in Molalla, Oregon.

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“Berry Creek is gone,” 50-year resident John Sykes told the Sacremento Bee. “The school is gone, the fire department’s gone, the bar’s gone, the laundromat’s gone, the general store’s gone.

“I’ll never go back. … I never want to see California again.”

Reporters from the paper noted seeing burned-out cars with red “X”s on them, as well as the bodies of dead dogs seemingly trapped by the blazes.

Deputies and detectives continued searching for human remains as they made their way into devastated areas with a team of anthropologists from Chico State University, Butte County sheriff’s Capt. Derek Bell said.

Among those unaccounted for were Sandy Butler and her husband, who had called their son to say they planned to escape the flames in a pond.

“We’re still hoping and praying for good news,” said Jessica Fallon, who has two children with the Butler’s grandson and considers them her own grandparents. “Everything is replaceable, but not my grandparents’ lives. I’d rather lose everything than those two.”

By late Thursday, 102 large fires had burned 4.4 million acres in 12 states — almost half of the biggest ones having evacuation orders in place, the National Interagency Fire Center said.

The Golden State remains the worst hit, with at least 19 confirmed dead by late Thursday, officials told the Associated Press.

Other deaths have been recorded in Oregon — where 500,000 people, more than 10% of the state’s population, have evacuated — as well as in Washington.

“It’s a historic season on top of a historic season that replaced a historic season. We just keep setting new precedents, and then we keep destroying them,” said Sean Norman, a battalion chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said the devastation is likely to grow, noting there are “several more months of fire season to go.”

With Post wires