Wednesday 3 August 2022 12:21 AM Death toll in McKinney Fire rises to four after two people are found dead in ... trends now
Raging forest fires in Northern California claimed two more lives as the death toll rose to four from what has become the state's largest blaze brought on by blistering heat and bone-dry conditions, authorities said Tuesday.
The Siskiyou County Sheriff said two bodies were found in separate residences on Monday along Route 96, one of the only roads in and out of the area.
On Sunday, first responders found the first two bodies inside a burned-out vehicle inside a gated driveway of a home near the Klamath River. Flames overtook the vehicle before they could escape.
'It's really tragic when a fire gets up and moves this fast and basically takes out a community. And that's what happened in the Klamath River area,' Mike Lindbery, a spokesman with the fire's incident management team, said Tuesday.
The McKinney Fire in Northern California has claimed four lives over five days as firefighter struggle to contain it
Officers with the Siskiyou County Sheriff's office carry away the remains of one of two people found burned to death in separate residences in the Klamath River area
Officials said that the devastating McKinney fire, the largest in the state, is zero percent contained
Authorities have not identified the dead, pending notification to their families.
About 2,500 people have had to evacuate the area and two million more are under red flag warnings of fire conditions across the states of California, Montana, Washington, Oregon, Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska.
The McKinney Fire, as it is called, ripped through 88 square miles, fed by 50 mph winds, and is considered the largest of the state's wildfires.
It's is by no means the only one. There are 10 different fires burning in the area.
'Klamath National Forest is a big and beautiful forest, but it also has some steep and rugged terrain. And with that, coupled with the high temperatures, low humidity, they all come into play and make it a very extreme fire danger situation right now,' Tom Stokesberry of the US Forest Service told KTVL.
The roaring inferno threatening wildlife and homes in California has now become fatal - after four people have died
The threatening blaze is now engulfing 88 squared miles of dry tinderbox wildland in the area as firefighters work tirelessly to calm the inferno
Flames burn to the Klamath River during the McKinney Fire in the Klamath National Forest northwest of Yreka, California
The McKinney Fire burns near Yreka, California, as it ravaged 88 square miles of vegetation, destroying a dozen homes and forcing local residents to evacuate
The blaze, which started on July 29, was considered zero percent contained on Tuesday.
California Gov. Gavin Newsome declared a state of emergency on Monday, freeing up state and federal funds to help those affected by the blaze.
Cloudy weather and scattered rain continued to help firefighters Tuesday as bulldozers managed to ring the small and
