Mobile DNA labs have been deployed to identify the dead from two raging fires – which saw 300,000 flee in terror, including stars Simon Cowell, Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian.
At least 200 people are missing in a fire devouring a spot north of the state dubbed Camp Fire and another stretching from San Fernando Valley to the celeb packed Malibu coast.
Meanwhile only ruins remain of sprawling luxury homes belonging to singers Neil Young, Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke and actor Gerard Butler.
Satellite pictures lay bare the true scale of the unfolding disaster, with thick smoke blanketing vast areas.
But hot dry "devil winds" are expected to whip up flames until the end of tomorrow, hampering desperate efforts to quell the rampaging fire storms.
What we know so far
- Worst fire in California's history
- Death toll at 31 with more than 200 unaccounted for
- Police warn locating dead may be difficult as victims reduced to bone fragments
- The fire has burned more than 130 square miles since Thursday
- An estimated 250,000 people have been forced to flee
- The count of destroyed homes remained at 177 but this is expected to increase
- So called "devil winds" expected to fan flames until at least Tuesday
- Looters have been caught dressing up as forest workers
Captain Rodney Hayball, one of 8,000 firefighters now deployed, told Sky News: "I have never seen anything like this – wind speeds were incredible and the fire was impossible to stop.
Police have vowed looters will be prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law” after two suspects were arrested dressed up as forest workers.
Music mogul Cowell was also among those affected by rapidly spreading fires in the exclusive resort.
The X Factor judge, 59, had only shot scenes for the show in the sparkling seven-bedroom beach-side mansion – which he bought last year – just weeks ago.
Robin Thicke's girlfriend April Love Geary, 23, posted a photo on Instagram showing a wall of smoke and said: “Our house is somewhere in there.
"I’m so sad but so thankful that we all made it out safe.
"Praying for everyone in Malibu, our city is up in flame."
This was followed up by a message from Thicke in which he thanked firefighters and members of the public who tried to save their home.
Huge plumes of smoke are today still billowing in the fire zones.
Aeroplanes and helicopters have been swooping low over hills and canyons to drop loads of fire retardant and water.
Authorities warned gusts of strong winds would continue until tomorrow and fan the flames.
As well as 31 dead, 228 remain unaccounted for as crews stepped up the search for bodies and missing people.
But Sheriff Cory Honea said the devastation was so bad in some neighbourhoods that "it's very difficult to determine whether or not there may be human remains there".
He added the only remains in most cases were bone fragments.
Wrecking Ball singer Miley Cyrus was also affected by the blaze and confirmed her house "no longer stands".
She tweeted: "Completely devastated by the fires affecting my community. I am one of the lucky ones. My animals and LOVE OF MY LIFE made it out safely & that’s all that matters right now.
"My house no longer stands but the memories shared with family & friends stand strong."
Two people were found “severely burned” in a car as the blaze destroyed 177 homes in the seaside resort and working-class Los Angeles suburbs.
Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian and Will Smith also fled.
Legendary rocker Neil Young also lost his eco-friendly home in the nearby mountains.
Writing on his website, he tore into Donald Trump who blamed bad forestry management rather than climate change for the disaster.
Young raged: “Imagine a leader who defies science, saying these solutions shouldn’t be part of his decision-making on our behalf.
"Imagine a leader who cares more for his own, convenient option than he does for the people he leads. Imagine an unfit leader.
“Now imagine a fit one.”
Actor Gerard Butler shared a selfie on Instagram showing his home burned to the ground behind him and wrote: "Returned to my house in Malibu after evacuating. "Heartbreaking time across California.
"Inspired as ever by the courage, spirit and sacrifice of firefighters."
LA County fire chief Daryl Osby said: “Our firefighters have been facing conditions they’ve never seen in their lives.”
The entire nearby city of Calabasas, home to more than 20,000 people, was placed under a mandatory evacuation order by city officials on Sunday evening.
Governor Jerry Brown asked US President Donald Trump to declare a major disaster to bolster the emergency response and help residents recover.
One of the victims was an ailing woman whose body was found in bed in a burned-out house in Concow in north California.
Ellen Walker, who was in her early 70s, was home alone when the fire struck on Thursday, according to Nancy Breeding, a family friend.
Fourteen more bodies were found in the town of Paradise, which has been virtually wiped off the map.
Officials said the “only remains we are able to find are bones or bone fragments”.
Blue body bags were used to recover the dead.
Kim Kardashian West urged people to "come together" during "these trying times" as her home state of California was still dealing with deadly wildfires and the aftermath of a mass shooting.
Accepting the prize for the reality show of the year at the E! People's Choice Awards for Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Kardashian West had a message of unity.
Standing alongside her mother, Kris Jenner and sisters Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian and Kendall Jenner, Kim said: "Action is necessary.
"So anything that we can do to help, as simple as donating to the many organisations that are collecting supplies, no form of help is too small.
"Our country is stronger when we come together and we cannot face devastation alone.
"We must continue to reach out and help each other in these trying times."
Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said: “This weighs heavy on all of us.”
The department compiled a list of more than 200 people who were still unaccounted for, but officials held out hope that many were safe but had been unable to contact loved ones.
Sheriff Honea said the agency was also bringing in a DNA lab and encouraged people with missing relatives to submit samples to aid in identifying the dead.
Meanwhile actor Jim Carrey, who lives on an estate in the Santa Monica Mountains, blamed Trump, whom he depicted as a baby in a cartoon – although the President fingers forest mismanagement.
It is unclear if his home has been affected.
Carrey said: “Guess who cut the funding for fire management in California then blamed the fires on mismanagement?
“How do YOU spell infantile?!”
Only the Griffith Park Fire in 1933 and Tunnel Fire in 1991 have been more deadly.
The Camp Fire was still burning away through the Paradise suburbs yesterday – and both major blazes were expected to be whipped up again by strong 70mph “devil winds”.
Meteorologist Marc Chenard, from the National Weather Service, said: “This is getting bad.
“We'll get sustained winds of up to 40mph and gusts between 60mph and 70mph. It’s nothing but bad news.”
In southern California a third blaze – the Hill Fire – had destroyed 4,000 acres but not cost any lives.
Residents of Paradise, a town founded in the 1800s, were sifting through what was left of their homes in northern California yesterday.
Wearing masks because the air was still heavy with smoke, people sidestepped metal that had melted off of cars or Jet-Skis as they surveyed their ravaged neighbourhoods.
Some cried when they saw nothing was left.
Jan MacGregor, 81, got back to find his small two-bedroom home in Paradise levelled – with a large metal safe and pipes from his septic system the only recognisable traces.
The safe was punctured with bullet holes from guns inside that went off in the scorching heat.
He said: “We knew Paradise was a prime target for forest fire over the years.
"We've had them come right up to the city limits…but nothing like this. I have nothing here to go back to.”
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