Two young children and their great-grandmother were confirmed dead in a Northern California wildfire.

Northern Calif. blazes just 5 percent contained

REDDING, Calif. — The death count from a rapidly growing Northern California wildfire rose to five Saturday after two young children and their great-grandmother who had been unaccounted for were confirmed dead.

“My babies are dead,” Sherry Bledsoe said through tears after she and family members met with Shasta County sheriff ’s deputies.

Bledsoe’s two children, James Roberts, 5, and Emily Roberts, 4, were stranded with her grandmother Melody Bledsoe, 70, when walls of flames swept through the family’s rural property Thursday on the outskirts of Redding.

The three were among more than a dozen people reported missing after the furious wind-driven blaze took residents by surprise and leveled several neighborhoods.

Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said he expects to find several of those people alive and just out of touch with loved ones. Officers have gone to homes of several people reported missing and found cars gone — a strong indication they fled.

The fire sparked Monday by a vehicle in forested hills grew to 131 square miles by late Saturday. It pushed southwest of Redding, the largest city in the region, toward the tiny communities of Ono, Igo and Gas Point, where scorching heat, winds and bone-dry conditions complicated firefighting efforts.

It’s now the largest fire burning in California. The winds that aided firefighters in keeping the flames from more populated areas were propelling at a frightening rate in unpredictable directions.

“I don’t know why it’s doing what it’s doing,” Cal Fire Chief Steve Crawford said. “It’s burning in every direction all at the same time. … It’s burning as if it’s got strong wind on it even when there’s no wind.”

Two firefighters were killed in the blaze, including a bulldozer operator who was helping clear vegetation in the wildfire’s path. He was identified Saturday as Don Ray Smith, 81, of Pollock Pines. Redding fire Inspector Jeremy Stoke was also killed, but details of his death were not released.

About 38,000 people were under evacuation orders, 5,000 homes were threatened and the fire was just 5 percent contained.

The latest tally of 536 destroyed structures was sure to rise. A count by The Associated Press found at least 300 of those structures were homes.

Meanwhile, about 100 miles southwest of Redding, two blazes prompted mandatory evacuations in Mendocino County. The two fires, burning 30 miles apart, started Friday and were threatening more than 350 buildings.

Cal Fire officials said more than 10,000 firefighters were on the line, making progress on 14 large wildfires across California.

President Donald Trump issued an emergency declaration for the state Saturday, allowing counties affected by wildfires to receive federal assistance.

Hector Amezcua The Associated Press A Cal Fire firefighter waters down a back burn Saturday near the town of Igo, Calif. Scorching heat, winds and dry conditions complicated firefighting efforts.