From the beginning, Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea knew that he was dealing with an extraordinarily dangerous situation.
As the flames of the Camp Fire tore through Paradise, he was focused on the chaos, he said, but in the back of his mind, there was the very serious concern that lives would be lost. On Nov. 8, 2018, the Camp Fire, which has become California’s deadliest and most destructive wildfire to date, killed 86 people. Their names and their stories are still being told and the memories of them will live on in those who remember.
But this is a different story, one that details what it took to gather what remained of the victims and bring their families closure.
"I have come to believe that this is one of the most complex mass casualty incidents that any public safety official has had to deal with," Honea said.
Honea was responsible for leading the search effort for the missing and the dead.