By Ryan Sabalow, Kevin Valine and Tony Bizjak

The Sacramento Bee

Firefighters dug battle lines Sunday high in the Butte County hills, hoping to draw a safety net around mountain hamlets still threatened by the Camp fire.

Meanwhile, in Paradise and Concow, two towns devastated in the early hours of the fast-moving fire, rescues crews continued the grisly task of checking razed homes and charred vehicles for bodies.

In just three days, the Camp fire has made a notorious name for itself. It is the most destructive blaze in modern state history, felling more than 6,700 buildings, most of them homes in the mountain town of Paradise. And, as of Saturday night, it ranked as third deadliest in state history, killing 23 people with fears that the count will climb.

The good news Sunday was that the fire had slowed its furious pace overnight, growing by 4,000 acres in “moderate to extreme” conditions fueled by gusting winds.

Containment increased from 20 to 25 percent overnight and the cities of Oroville and Chico escaped damage.

Fire officials said in their morning briefing in Chico that the primary goal for Sunday was to keep cutting fire lines around the 109,000-acre blaze, warning that dry conditions and heavy winds could still pose dangers. Fire officials said they planned for firefighting aircraft to begin aggressively pounding the blaze from the air as conditions permit flying.

Also on Sunday, Gov. Jerry Brown requested a presidential major disaster declaration to bolster the ongoing emergency response and help residents recover from the fires in Los Angeles, Ventura and Butte counties.

At the briefing in Chico, fire commanders described the fire jumping the Feather River at one point Saturday night on the eastern edge of the fire line, and said crews had to protect homes in a rural area northeast of Oroville.

Firefighters were to continue mopping up the fire and reducing hazards in the towns of Magalia and Paradise, the most heavily damaged populated areas at the center of the Camp fire.

The toll of dead from the Camp fire rose to 23 Saturday as more remains were discovered in Paradise and surrounding areas.

Many of those victims were found inside cars, apparently unable to outrun the fire.

Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said at a Saturday night community meeting in Chico that his office has taken about 120 missing persons reports. About 50 of those remained open Sunday. Honea said many people reported missing have been found by deputies at shelters and evacuation centers.

The missing people were on evacuees’ minds Sunday morning at the Oroville Nazarene Church, an evacuation center in Oroville.

“We lost a few people up there,” said Desmond David. “We don’t know who yet.”

The church parking lot was scattered with tents, mobile homes and men and women sitting by their vehicles beside their dogs. Many of the evacuees were wrapped in blankets and coats in the chilly breeze.

David said he lost his home in a wildfire in 2008, and had been living ever since at a property in Concow. He suspects it’s gone since he could hear his vehicles exploding as he was racing around Thursday morning, frantically helping neighbors gather their belongings.

“I’m trying to remember, and I’m trying to forget,” he said. “But I get that life goes on.”

“At least I got them,” he said referring to his dogs, Summer and Shugo.

Ian Moore, 28, of Chico, was at the intersection of Table Mountain Road and Highway 70 Sunday morning, waiting to get permission to drive a horse trailer into the disaster area with a large group of other trucks and trailers. They were all heading up to the Paradise area to rescue what animals they could find.

He spent the day Saturday helping rescue 10 horses, two of which were burned.

“They were standing on coals,” he said through the dust mask covering his mouth in the smoky air.

Among the victims of the fire are emergency responders and others in law enforcement. All 17 of Paradise’s police officers lost their homes, said Mayor Jody Jones, whose home also burned to the ground.

“Every member of the town council lost their home,” said Jones, a retired Caltrans executive who has lived in Paradise for 14 years. “If you think about it too much, it can overwhelm you.”