Second body found in homes burned from wildfire in Northern California



SAN ANDREAS, Calif. (AP) — A second body has been found in a wildfire burning in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Northern California.

It's the third body found this week in two different Northern California fires.

Calaveras County coroner Kevin Raggio says two bodies were found Tuesday inside their homes, which were destroyed by a fire burning southeast of Sacramento.

Raggio says one is a 65-year-old man who refused to heed a mandatory evacuation order. He declined to identify the second victim, saying the family hasn't been notified.

Earlier this week, an elderly disabled woman was found dead in the ruins of her Lake County home, about 100 miles north of San Francisco.

Dogs were being used Wednesday to search for a former police reporter and several other people who authorities fear also were killed in that fire.

Fire investigators are looking into whether the fire was sparked after a live tree came in contact with Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power lines.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman Daniel Berlant says the fire started on Butte Mountain Road in Amador County, but what sparked the blaze remains under investigation.

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.

The blaze in Amador and Calaveras counties has destroyed at least 233 homes. It has charred more than 110 square miles and was 45 percent contained Wednesday.

Elsewhere in Northern California, cadaver dogs were used Wednesday to search for a former police reporter and several other people who authorities fear were killed in another fast-moving wildfire.

That wildfire was in rural Lake County, less than 100 miles north of San Francisco.

State and local officials toured the disaster area Wednesday morning to assess the damage and to determine if President Barack Obama should be asked for emergency federal funds and aid.