The toll from Northern California’s wildfires continued to grow as the US officials said the wildfires have killed at least 31 people and left hundreds missing in the chaos of mass evacuations in the heart of the state’s wine country.

A resurgence of extreme wind conditions that had been forecast for early Thursday failed to materialize, giving fire crews a chance to start carving containment lines, al Hurra channel reported on Friday.

But fierce winds were expected to return as early as Friday night, and a force of 8,000 firefighters was racing to reinforce and extend buffer lines across northern California before then.

Authorities have warned that the death toll from the spate of more than 20 fires raging across eight counties for a fourth day could climb higher. The flames have scorched more than 190,000 acres, an area nearly the size of New York City.