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“It is my very, very sad duty to provide you with information on the number of human remains that we have located today.”

With those words, the Butte County sheriff, Kory L. Honea, announced late Monday that the death toll in the fire that incinerated the wooded community of Paradise in the northern Sierra had risen to 42.

That made it the deadliest wildfire in California history. And with more than 7,000 structures destroyed, most of them homes, the Camp Fire is by far the most destructive fire in the state’s history as well.

Emergency personnel were overwhelmed when the fast-moving flames raged into Paradise last week. Now they are overwhelmed in their effort to find the dead and identify them.

Adding to the 13 coroner teams from across the state that are already working to locate the dead in and around Paradise, the sheriff announced a sharp increase in experts who specialize in finding human remains: 150 extra search-and-rescue personnel, cadaver dogs and two portable, temporary morgue units from the military. Sheriff Honea is also seeking to bring in a machine to “expedite the analysis of DNA” to speed up the identification of remains.

Search teams have found the remains of Paradise residents in cars, homes and outdoors. The sheriff on Monday identified three of the victims: Ernest Foss, 65; Jesus Fernandez, 48; and Carl Wiley, 77.

“My sincere hope is that I don’t have to come here each night and report a higher and higher number,” Sheriff Honea said.

Jim Broshears, the emergency operations center coordinator in Paradise and the town’s former fire chief, seemed to dash those hopes.

“The numbers of losses of life are probably going to go much higher, I fear,” he said.

Follow live updates from our reporters on the ground and track the wildfires burning near the Sierra Nevada foothills and the Los Angeles shoreline.

Have you had to flee the wildfires? We want to hear from you. Please share your story here or email us at [email protected].

How You Can Help

Make sure to do your research before donating to charities. Here is a list of nonprofits in the state that are seeking donations, as well as specific sites and organizations in Butte County and Southern California.

California Online

(Please note: We regularly highlight articles on news sites that have limited access for nonsubscribers.)

Fires Coverage From Across the State

• Four days after the Camp Fire first ripped through Paradise, more than 200 residents are still missing. Among them are many residents of a mobile home park that was once a sanctuary for retirees. [The New York Times]

• Fact check: President Trump’s tweet about fire “mismanagement” is misleading. His statement suggests that California is at fault, but the majority of the state’s forests are federally held. [The New York Times]

• “A reasonable not to mention sensitive man would express support and sympathy for California in the midst of its latest calamitous wildfires,” an Orange County resident wrote. “Not the man in the White House.” Readers reacted to the president’s statements in letters to the editor. [The New York Times | Opinion]

• In case you missed it: On “The Daily,” our correspondent spoke about how a once-seasonal concern has become a persistent, year-round threat in California. [The New York Times]

• The celebrity chef Guy Fieri surprised emergency personnel fighting the Camp Fire by delivering them meals over the weekend. [ABC]

• Three beloved Jewish summer camps in the Malibu hills were destroyed by the Woolsey Fire. [NBC Los Angeles]

• The deaths of wildfire bulldozer operators show the heightened dangers they face as more intense fire seasons make their jobs more precarious and unpredictable. [Time]

• California always seems to be an instant away from major catastrophe. And yet “we cling to the edge of the continent, shaken by loss, too foolish to run, or too much in love,” a columnist writes. [The Los Angeles Times | Opinion]

In Other News

• In memoriam: Stan Lee, who died in Los Angeles at 95. He transformed Marvel Comics, helping create superheroes like Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk. [The New York Times]

• Stocks tumbled on Monday amid unease over tech shares, with Apple declining by 5 percent. PG&E’s shares fell by a third, reflecting concerns about the utility’s liability in the Camp Fire. [The Fresno Bee]

• In 1990, a Berkeley professor fought to stop an affirmative action resolution introduced by Representative Dana Rohrabacher because he feared it would pit Asian-Americans against other minorities. Now, 30 years later, a similar discussion is taking place around a Harvard lawsuit. [The New York Times]

• A U.N. expert called San Francisco’s homelessness crisis a human rights violation and explained what she saw as the root causes — and most viable solutions. [Business Insider]

• The Angels’ Shohei Otani and Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves are Rookies of the Year. [The New York Times]

• Are organic farms ruining California’s rural coast? [Pacific Standard]

• Fluxus, a nebulous and anti-establishment art movement of the 1960s, is getting a season-long festival at the L.A. Philharmonic and the Getty Center. [The New York Times]

• A year after #MeToo, Hollywood is in the midst of a major upheaval that money can’t cure. [The New York Times]

And Finally …

Yuval Noah Harari doesn’t carry a phone, and he spends a lot of time contemplating while off the grid.

Is Silicon Valley undermining democracy and ushering in a dystopian hellscape? Are big tech companies creating powerful influence machines to control minds and destroy free will? Is the industry creating a tiny ruling class?

It’s a lot of dire questions from a futurist philosopher. And yet Mr. Hatari was greeted by an incongruously joyful reception when he toured the Bay Area to promote his latest book: The chief executive of Netflix threw him a dinner party, and he was invited to visit X, Alphabet’s secretive research division.

Mr. Hatari is arguably Silicon Valley’s principal doomsayer. So why do the tech elite love him so?

Read the full story here.

California Today goes live at 6 a.m. Pacific time weekdays. Tell us what you want to see: [email protected].

California Today is edited by Julie Bloom, who grew up in Los Angeles and graduated from U.C. Berkeley.

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