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Article snippet: By any measure, the wildfires burning across Northern California are among the deadliest and most destructive in state history. As of late Thursday, four of them collectively accounted for 31 deaths. The single deadliest fire in California history killed 29 people, in 1933. The current fires, more than 20 in total, have destroyed at least 3,500 structures and scorched 191,000 acres — enough land to cover Manhattan 13 times. Officials at Cal Fire, the state firefighting agency, don’t usually lump separate — but simultaneous — blazes together for record keeping. And a spokeswoman said Wednesday that they’re unlikely to start now. Sheriff Rob Giordano of Sonoma County said late Thursday that 17 people in the county were dead. He said he suspected that the Tubbs fire was responsible for all the fatalities. If that proves to be true, Cal Fire officials said that that fire would rank as the third deadliest in state history. Cal Fire officials say the second deadliest fire was also the state’s most destructive: The Tunnel fire of 1991 resulted in 25 deaths and destroyed 2,900 structures. The deadliest wildfire in state history, however, was relatively small. The Griffith Park fire of 1933 killed 29 people despite burning just 47 acres, said the Cal Fire spokeswoman, Lynne Tolmachoff. How was that possible? Newspaper reports at the time offer an explanation: The men fighting the fire were largely untrained. In 1933, the United States was emerging from the Great Depressio... Link to the full article to read more