California wildfires: Death toll reaches grim milestone

The death toll in wildfires sweeping California has risen to 31, with more than 200 people still missing, officials have said.

Six more people were confirmed killed in the Camp Fire in the north of the state, taking the toll there to 29.

That fire now equals the deadliest on record in California - the 1933 Griffith Park disaster in Los Angeles.

In the south, the Woolsey Fire has claimed two lives as it damaged beach resorts including Malibu.

An estimated 250,000 people have been forced to flee their homes to avoid three major blazes in the state.

With strengthening winds threatening to spread the flames, California Governor Jerry Brown has urged President Donald Trump to declare a major disaster, a move that would harness more federal emergency funds.

The appeal came a day after Mr Trump threatened to cut funding for California, blaming the fires on poor forest management.

The blaze started on Thursday near Thousand Oaks, about 40 miles (64km) north-west of central Los Angeles.

It has consumed at least 85,500 acres and destroyed at least 177 buildings, officials said. It is only 10% contained. The smaller Hill Fire, nearby, has scorched 4,530 acres and is 75% contained.

Recent years have produced record-breaking temperatures, earlier springs, and less reliable rainfall.

Citing the role of a warming climate, Governor Brown declared: "This is not the new normal, this is the new abnormal."

Musician Neil Young made the same link, writing on his website: "I have lost my home before to a California wildfire, now another."

"We are vulnerable because of climate change; the extreme weather events and our extended drought is part of it."