The Camp Fire could go down in history as one of the deadliest fires, not just in California, but in U.S. history. The death toll currently stands at 77, but with almost 1000 people still unaccounted for that number is expected to rise significantly. Time Magazine reports:

Not since the Cloquet Fire in 1918 has a wildfire killed so many people in the United States. An estimated 450 died in the wildfire in Minnesota. The deadliest fire in U.S. history was the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin in 1871. At least 1,200 people died.

Crews in California are often relying on volunteers to help them search home by home, building by building, burned out car by burned out car.

Now comes news that there is rain in the forecast. That is certainly good for fighting the fires, but not helpful for search crews.

The Associated Press reports:

Rescue workers wore white coveralls, hard hats and masks as they poked through debris, searching for bone fragments before rain could wash them away or turn loose, dry ash into thick paste.

A team of 10 volunteers accompanied by a cadaver dog went from house to house in the charred landscape. Some went to homes where they had received tips that someone might have died.

They used sticks to move aside debris and focused on vehicles, bathtubs and what was left of mattresses for possible signs of victims.

When no remains were found, they spray-painted a large, orange “0″ near the house and moved on.

NBC adds:

No victim in the Butte County fire zone has been found alive for more than a week. And much of what is left to be found is likely to be bone, teeth and prosthetic devices, a few of the searchers said. Yet the teams, including civilians more accustomed to hunting down missing hikers, dutifully trudged from one gutted property to another this week, continuing the bleak accounting.

And imagine this… many of the people helping with searches are victims themselves.