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Another person died in Northern California’s massive Carr Fire, bringing the blaze’s death toll to six, Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Sunday.
Bosekno told reporters that the person, who has not yet been identified, received an evacuation notice that was not followed.
Bosenko did not immediately provide additional information, saying more details needed to be confirmed with relatives.
A firefighter, a dozer operator and three people preparing to evacuate a home were also killed in the blaze, which exploded over the weekend, growing from about 48,000 acres on Friday night to double that on Sunday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire.
Ed Roberts ran to the store on Thursday to grab supplies. Within an hour, his house his wife, Melody, 70, and two of their great-grandchildren, James, 5, and Emily, 4, were gone.
“He lost everything,” Donald Kewley, the boyfriend of one of the Bledsoes’ granddaughters, told NBC affiliate KCRA of Sacramento.
“You can’t lose more than family. And then you lose everything on top of that,” Kewley said. “Man’s got the shirt on his back and the pants on his waist. That’s it.”
Containment had improved from 5 percent to 17 percent by Sunday night, Cal Fire said, but with the fire so widespread — having charred almost 96,000 acres by Sunday night — “‘extreme’ is not even the right adjective to use anymore,” said Chris Anthony, a division chief with Cal Fire.
“It is just an understatement, because the fire is so explosive now in California,” Anthony said.
The fire has destroyed 874 homes or other structures and threatens 5,000 more near the city of Redding, the seat of Shasta County and an urban center of about 91,000 people. Forty thousand residents have evacuated their homes.
Sixteen people have been reported missing since the blaze broke out Monday afternoon northwest of Redding, Bosenko said. Authorities are still investigating seven of those cases, he said.
A vehicle’s mechanical failure is believed to have caused the fire, and years of drought and record heat waves fueled its staggering growth.