Blazes being tamed but death toll rises to 5 in California

Raggio did not release the name of the second victim, also found in Mountain Ranch, because the family has not been notified.

Aided by drought, the flames have consumed more than 109 square since the fire sped Saturday through rural Lake County, less than 100 miles north of San Francisco.

PG&E says it is cooperating fully with the Cal Fire investigation and is reviewing the inspection and patrol data for 2014 and 2015 for the area near this fire.

She was found in her burned home in Middletown on Sunday.

Authorities were searching nearby for a 69-year-old Leonard Neft, who was reported missing by his family.

His charred auto was found three days later.

But the light rain that fell near the Valley Fire on Monday, never even made it to the ground, according to officials on the scene.

Shirley Burns said her 65-year-old brother-in-law might have been sleeping in his trailer and didn’t realize the fire was speeding toward him on Saturday.

“So I was telling him what was going on, and said you need to leave, and he says, ‘Well, I don’t think it’s coming this way, ‘ and I said, ‘You need to leave, ‘” she said.

The dead woman has been identified as Barbara McWilliams, 72. He drove to his mother-in-law’s place in Middletown, only to have to flee again when the flames began closing in on her house and her neighbor’s home. In the Sierra foothills, a tree and a power line are being investigated as the possible origin of a fire that claimed the lives of two people. Obama and Gov. Jerry Brown were expected to discuss the matter Wednesday. But federal funding has been shaky for years, with agencies regularly dipping into fire-prevention budgets to cover fire-suppression shortfalls.

According to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, the Valley Fire is responsible for at least three deaths.

Like the Grimms, some residents cried as they walked through the rubble of their homes while others shared incredible stories of survival when more people returned to their houses Tuesday and surveyed the twisted metal and smoking ruins left behind by a devastating California wildfire. “It looked like a little yard fire”, he says.

Rainy conditions and cooler weather overnight Wednesday helped firefighters, but the fire still grew overnight, officials said, burning an additional 3,500 acres from 7:30 p.m. Wednesday to 6:45 a.m. Thursday.

The center at the Napa County fairgrounds is feeding about 1,000 people at each meal. The food is being prepared by wine country chefs who are donating their time and skill.

Their home is surrounded by grass, and they were intent on saving it. Martha Grimm broke down in tears. It was here and we got out with the clothes on our back. All we want to do is go home.

Don Grimm said he was surprised to find the ranch’s chickens, horses and llamas survived the fire. But 10 sheep in a barn didn’t make it.

While investigators continue to sift through ash and rubble for a cause to the Valley Fire, a shed in the town of Cobb is a top contender.

81 homes and 51 outbuildings were destroyed by the wildfire dubbed as Butte fire.

Thursday’s rain over the deadly Valley Fire gave crews much needed relief and an upper hand at containing the out of control blaze before temperatures start to increase this weekend.