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Bay Area Task Force Returns From Paradise After Weeklong Search

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- After a weeklong search for the victims of the Camp Fire, California Task Force 3 has been demobilized and is heading back to the Bay Area Sunday, the Menlo Park Fire Department reported.

Fire Chief Harold Schapelhouman said 45 members of the task force, along with their two search dogs, searched almost 2,000 structures in Magalia, about five miles north of the town of Paradise.

paradise task force dog
One of the two K9 members of Task Force 3. (Menlo Park)

"The team was honored to be there, but it's hard to feel completely finished with so many people still missing," Schapelhouman said in a news release. "Many feel like they're leaving a little piece of themselves behind."

paradise task force
Members of Task Force 3 on the scene in Paradise. (Menlo Fire)

The task force is headed to the Teams Special Operations warehouse in East Palo Alto. Another group of firefighters dispatched to Butte County from San Francisco also returned home this week, according to the firefighters' union.

The Camp Fire in Northern California's Butte County was contained this morning at 153,336 acres, Cal Fire reported.

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