One of the Victims in Camp Fire Raging in Butte County Identified as Former San Francisco Resident

The son of one of three named victims from the Northern California wildfire says that Ernie Foss Jr. was a musician and former San Francisco resident who shared his love of music with others.

Keaka Loo confirmed on Sunday that the family is devastated by the death of his father, one of at least 42 people killed by the fire. 

Loo said Foss and his dog, Bernice, were found outside their home on a street where several other victims were also found. His stepson Andrew Burt, who was his caretaker, remained missing.

"For those of you who loved him and knew him well, 'Papa' as I called him, was not afraid to die. Rather, he was more concerned with being forgotten (Musicians…)," Loo wrote on Facebook.

Foss moved to the town of Paradise eight years ago because of the San Francisco Bay Area's high cost of living. He taught music from their home near the city's famous Haight Street and turned their living room into a studio.

Foss had advanced lymphedema and could not walk.

The Butte County sheriff's office listed his age as 65, but records show he was 63.

Butte County Sheriff's Office also identified 48-year-old Jesus Fernandez of Concon and 77-year-old Carl Wiley of Magalia as victims of the deadly wildfire.

Five days after flames all but obliterated the town of Paradise, population 27,000, officials were unsure of the exact number of missing. But the death toll was all but certain to rise.

"I want to recover as many remains as we possibly can, as soon as we can. Because I know the toll it takes on loved ones," Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said Monday night as he announced the discovery of 13 more dead.

More than a dozen coroner search-and-recovery teams looked for bodies across the apocalyptic landscape that was once Paradise, while anxious relatives visited shelters and called police and hospitals in hopes of finding loved ones.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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