The bodies of two people were found inside a burned out vehicle in a residential driveway inside the McKinney Fire zone in Northern California on Sunday, officials said, the first fatalities from the state’s largest wildfire of the year so far.
Siskiyou County sheriff’s officials said the bodies were found at 9:57 a.m. in a driveway off Doggett Creek Road, off Highway 96 west of the community of Klamath River.
No identities or further information was released pending next of kin.
As of early Monday, the fire has burned 55,493 acres — about 86 square miles — west and northwest of Yreka and has forced the evacuations of 2,000 people, and firefighters were battling to keep the blaze from moving toward Yreka, 5 1/2 miles away as of Sunday.
Firefighters had zero containment on the blaze as of Sunday, and Yreka police issued a warning Sunday night against anyone entering evacuated areas of the city.
“The Yreka Police Department is working with multiple law enforcement agencies to keep properties secured, and as of July 31st at 4 p.m. we have 24 law enforcement officers patrolling the city of Yreka,” the department said in a Facebook post.
Early Monday morning, sheriff’s deputies announced two people had been arrested inside the evacuated area — one on suspicion of possessing burglary tools, the other for burglary inside a closed disaster area.
The suspects’ names weren’t provided.
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