MIDDLETOWN, Calif.—Crews recovered two more bodies in homes decimated by Northern California wildfires and searched for several other people who are feared dead, even as firefighters gained ground on the massive blazes thanks to cooler weather.
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.
About 170 miles southeast, in the Sierra Nevada foothills, two bodies were found inside burned-out homes, Calaveras County coroner Kevin Raggio said.
One of the victims was identified as Mark McCloud, 65, who was found inside his residence Tuesday in the Mountain Ranch area. Raggio wouldn’t release the name of the second victim, also found inside a home in Mountain Ranch, because the family has not been notified.
He said both were found in an area where mandatory evacuations were ordered after the fire burning 60 miles southeast of Sacramento exploded in size over the weekend.
The deaths came in addition to an elderly, disabled woman whose body was found Sunday in the ruins of her Lake County home about 100 miles north of San Francisco.
That blaze has consumed more than 109 square miles. Crews were gaining ground on it and more than doubled containment from 15 percent to 35 percent Wednesday evening, Cal Fire said.
The weather was cooperating, with rain falling steadily at an evacuation center where hundreds of people were staying in trucks and tents.
Authorities were searching Lake County’s Cobb Mountain area for a 69-year-old Leonard Neft, who was reported missing by his family. His burned-out car was discovered on a route he would have used to escape.
“We have reports of several others that may have perished in the fire,” Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said during a tour of the disaster zone with state emergency officials.
Neft, who worked for the San Jose Mercury News, last spoke with his family Saturday.
His daughter Joselyn Neft said his wife, Adela Neft, repeatedly called him then to tell him to leave the house, but he told her he didn’t think the fire was coming toward him.
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.
