With many of their homes damaged or destroyed in the state’s most devastating wildfire on record, the students of Paradise High School face an uncertain future.

On Tuesday, a man they have never met from a city more than 500 miles away will give them a gift he hopes will provide at least a small measure of security, support and comfort in a dark hour.

Rancho Santa Fe businessman Bob Wilson plans to personally deliver a $1,000 check to each of the school’s 980 students and 105 employees in Chico at a venue that has yet to be determined. That’s a total of $1 million for the wildfire victims to use as they see fit, no strings attached.

Firefighters battling California’s deadliest fire on record continued to make progress Friday, with containment growing to 95% and the number of homes burned at nearly 14,000.

The Camp fire has scorched more than 153,000 acres and killed at least 84 people in Butte County, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials. But hundreds of residents are still missing, and thousands more have been displaced by the massive blaze.

Another day of searching, another grim finding.

The death toll from the Camp fire rose by one Thursday to 84, on a day when rain seemed to halt further growth of the state’s deadliest blaze.

By Thursday evening, the Jarbo Gap, where the fire probably started, had received just over an inch of rain in the preceding 24 hours, according to the National Weather Service. Rain totals varied across the region.  

Schools in Malibu survived the Woolsey fire almost intact but they got very dirty, and cleanup efforts will keep campuses closed even as residents are allowed to return to their properties.

The fire killed three people, burned 97,000 acres and destroyed 1,500 structures. Malibu’s four schools have been closed since Nov. 9, when they were included in the mandatory evacuation zones.

The tentative date to reopen Webster Elementary is Nov. 28. Point Dume Marine Science School is scheduled to reopen Dec. 3. Juan Cabrillo Elementary School should be ready between Dec. 3 and Dec. 5, pending results of air testing inside and outside for traces of lead, asbestos and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). Malibu High will be back in business between Dec. 4 and Dec. 10

Times photographer Marcus Yam shared on Twitter a very personal photo essay about the victims of Paradise.

“This #thanksgiving we should to take a moment for the victims of the #CampFire,” he wrote. “So many families will not be spending #Thanksgiving in the comfort of their own homes. Take a moment to think about them.

Read the whole thread here.

Anna Longacre booked her flight home months ago.

Back then, the 26-year-old Army sergeant imagined the comforts that awaited her Thanksgiving week, the things that never change no matter how far away from Paradise, Calif., the military takes her.

The old cast-iron stove that warmed the entire house during winter. The small stone-fruit orchard that ran along the side and back. Her dad’s breakfast hash browns.

As of Thanksgiving Day, the devastation logged by the Camp fire in Northern California was nearly 14,000 homes, more than 150,000 acres and at least 83 lives.

Some of the thousands displaced by the fire, mostly from the town of Paradise, said they nonetheless counted themselves among the lucky and found things to be grateful for this Thanksgiving.

Times reporters on the ground in Butte County asked people about the meaning of this holiday.

California’s costs to fight two deadly wildfires that ignited less than two weeks ago have already topped $118 million — a sizable financial hit to a program that needed an unexpected cash infusion just two months ago.

Cal Fire officials said Tuesday that $589.7 million has been paid out by the state’s fire emergency, or “e-fund,” account since July 1. Officials are poised to free up additional dollars before lawmakers consider a new state budget early next year.

Read more here.

Butte County Dist. Atty. Mike Ramsey warned that scam artists are targeting Paradise fire victims seeking to rent housing.

"We have seen people who have no right to a particular apartment that go and rent out that apartment and take people's money. Be very careful. Red flag: If it's too good to be true, it is," Ramsey said.

Another scam already happening are fraudulent GoFundMe websites seeking contributions for fire victims, he said. "We encourage folks to go to the Butte County website to take a look at areas where you can legitimately and safely give your charitable dollars to," he said.

Rapid DNA analysis is being used to identify dozens of California fire victims burned beyond recognition. Of 83 victims, sheriff's officials have made tentative identifications on 58 of them, but they await DNA confirmation.

"We're working diligently to identify those individuals so that we can contact their next of kin and notify them," said Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea.

It used to be that DNA analysis could take months before answers would firm up, but now DNA analysis can be done within a matter of hours, Jim Davis of Ande, a Massachusetts-based company that specializes in rapid DNA analysis, said at a press conference in Chico on Wednesday.