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.

The rains in Northern California have finally improved the air quality.

Smoke from the Camp Fire had brought unhealthful air quality to the Bay Area and Sacramento Valley for more than a week.

A second storm was moving into Northern California tonight, with rain in the forecast Friday.

Tamra Gray’s Facebook friends have started posting photos of their newly decorated Christmas trees. When she stumbles upon this display of normalcy, she can barely hold it together.

“It’s hard to think about the holidays right now,” she said as she sat at a table in the Chico Mall food court, where she and her husband were discussing their options with a home insurance company representative. “I don’t have a home to put a tree in right now.”

Gray and her husband, Scott, lived in their Paradise home on Oak Way for 20 years. What she will miss the most are the pine trees in her backyard and the cool shade they provided, a simple pleasure she could count on even when the mercury hit 100.

They called it their little green house in the forest. A two-bedroom mobile home with a birdbath out front on Skyway road where deer and bobcats roamed.

It is likely gone, they think, because they have seen a map of the burn area — a cloud of red over where they lived for four years.

Steve Weathington, 67, and his girlfriend, Irene Schwab, 65, now lay their heads on green cots in an exhibit hall at the Yuba-Sutter Fairgrounds. Their possessions are few, but they made it out with their two trucks, two dogs and two cats. A fortune, they know, compared with what others escaped with.