Death toll in Calif. fires up to 42

Weather now helping firefighters to increase containment

SANTA ROSA, Calif. — Crews on Wednesday continued to increase containment of deadly wildfires that have ravaged Northern California, while authorities announced the discovery of another fire victim — a development that brought the fatality count to 42.

Authorities confirmed a 23rd death in Sonoma County — 22 from the Tubbs Fire and one from the Nuns Fire, officials said. There were eight deaths in Mendocino County, seven in Napa County and four in Yuba County, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

After more than a week of warm days and extremely dry air that helped keep the fires raging, a cooler weather pattern blanketing the wine country’s valley floor with fog has begun to settle in.

The combination of light winds, increased moisture and lower temperatures has aided firefighting efforts across the region, Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said.

“We’re hoping … to see even some rainfall by tomorrow,” Berlant said Wednesday morning.

Firefighters took advantage of the favorable conditions to conduct firing operations Tuesday night.

A back-burning operation on the north end of the Pocket Fire, the smallest but least contained of the fires in the region in north Sonoma County, has stymied the blaze’s potential to race out of control, officials said.

Fire crews also burned vegetation in the path of the 54,423-acre Nuns Fire.