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California rescuers find two more bodies in wake of wildfires California rescuers find two more bodies in wake of wildfires
(about 3 hours later)
Crews recovered two more bodies in homes destroyed by northern California wildfires and searched for several other people who are feared dead, while firefighters gained ground on the huge blazes thanks to cooler weather. Authorities say two more bodies have been found in homes burned by a California wildfire, bringing the death toll from the blazes in the northern part of the state to five.
Officials searched the burned-out remains of homes in the Cobb Mountain area of Lake County on Wednesday, looking for a former police reporter and others who authorities fear were killed in a fast-moving blaze. The Lake County sheriff’s office says official identifications have yet to be made, but they are presumed to be the bodies of Bruce Beven Burns and former San Jose Mercury News police reporter Leonard Neft, 69. Burns’s age was not released.
About 170 miles (270km) south-east, in the Sierra Nevada foothills, two bodies were found inside burned-out homes, the Calaveras County coroner, Kevin Raggio, said. Neft last spoke with his family on Saturday evening.
One of the victims was identified as Mark McCloud, 65, who was found inside his residence on Tuesday in the Mountain Ranch area. Raggio would not release the name of the second victim, also found inside a home in Mountain Ranch, because the family has not been notified. Authorities earlier found his burned-out car on the route he would have used to escape.
He said both bodies were found in an area where mandatory evacuations were ordered after the fire exploded in size over the weekend. His daughter Joselyn Neft said his wife, Adela Neft, repeatedly called him on Saturday to tell him to leave the house, but he told her he didn’t think the fire was coming toward him. Neither woman was immediately available on Thursday.
The deaths came in addition to an elderly, disabled woman whose body was found on Sunday in the ruins of her Lake County home. His house was in the same area where Barbara McWilliams, 72, was found dead. She told her caretaker she didn’t want to leave her home near Middletown and would be fine.
That blaze has consumed more than 109 square miles (282 sq km). Crews were gaining ground on it and more than doubled containment from 15% to 35% on Wednesday evening, Cal Fire said. Cadaver dogs found the bodies Tuesday night, Brooks said. Two more people remain missing.
The weather was cooperating, with rain falling steadily at an evacuation center where hundreds of people were staying in trucks and tents. KRON reports a man named Edwin Null is one of the missing. The name of the other person was not released.
Authorities were searching Lake County’s Cobb Mountain area for 69-year-old former reporter Leonard Neft, who was reported missing by his family. His burned-out car was discovered on a route he would have used to escape. About 170 miles (275 km) south-east, in a separate wildfire in the Sierra Nevada foothills, two bodies were found inside burned-out homes, Calaveras County coroner Kevin Raggio said.
His house was in the same area where Barbara McWilliams, 72, was found dead. She had told her caretaker she didn’t want to leave her home near Middletown and would be fine. One of the victims was identified as Mark McCloud, 65, who was found inside his residence Tuesday.
The state fire chief, Kim Zagaris, said the official tally of homes destroyed in the Lake County fire stood at 603 – a figure that is expected to increase. Raggio wouldn’t release the name of the second victim found in another home, because the family has not been notified.
That fire, and the blaze about 120 miles to the south-east, have displaced 23,000 people and were the worst of a dozen wildfires burning in the state. The tragedy comes as firefighters gained ground on the massive blazes thanks to cooler weather and some rain on Wednesday. The fire in Lake County has charred 115 square miles (300 sq. km) and was 35% contained on Thursday. An estimated 585 homes and hundreds of other structures have burned.
The fire in Amador and Calaveras counties has burned 110 square miles (300 sq km). It was 49% contained on Thursday after destroying 252 homes.