At least two people have died as a result of the McKinney wildfire currently raging out of control in northern California, officials reported Monday.
“On Sunday, July 31, 2022, at approximately 9:57 a.m., fire personnel located two deceased individuals inside a vehicle that was burned in the path of the #McKinneyFire,” reads a post by the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office uploaded to Facebook Monday.
“The vehicle was located in a residential driveway along Doggett Creek Road, which is off of Highway 96, west of the community of Klamath River, California.”
The Sheriff’s Office declined to name the victims or give further details “pending positive identification and notifications to next-of-kin.”
While the exact cause of the fire has yet to be determined, Forest Service officials at Klamath National Forest reported Monday that “it is clear this fire was not caused by lightning” but that its explosive growth was the result of “unpredictable winds” and “extreme temperatures” – one firefighter stationed in the Oak Knoll district of the forest reported the temperature as 102 degrees Fahrenheit at 3 a.m. local time, they wrote.
A firetruck drives along California Highway 96 as the McKinney Fire burns in Klamath National Forest, Calif., Saturday, July 30, 2022.
© AP Photo / Noah Berger
Almost 2,000 residents have been forced to evacuate as a result of the McKinney fire, and lightning storms on Monday only threatened to make things worse. Data released by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection lists the blaze as having zero containment.
Meanwhile, criminal elements have apparently already emerged to take advantage of the chaotic situation. The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office reported they booked one thief – and one would-be thief – in the evacuation zone into the Siskiyou County Jail Monday on charges of “burglary within an evacuation zone” and “possession of burglary tools,” respectively.