But even as containment increased in the worst of the fires, more bad news emerged from the ashes: The death toll surged late Sunday with an update from the Los Angeles County medical examiner.

Previously, he held that position at L.A. Weekly, whose music editor and critic he also was for some years, and was the author of the Today column at the late Los Angeles Herald-Examiner.

Jim Radcliffe, who graduated from the University of Southern California in journalism, worked as a reporter at The Arizona Daily Star, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and the Daily Breeze before ...