6th Person Found Dead as Northern California Wildfire Rages Largely Unchecked

A Northern California sheriff says a sixth person has died in a raging wildfire that has destroyed more than 500 buildings.

Shasta County Sheriff Tom Bosenko said Sunday that the remains were found within the boundary of the Carr Fire near Redding, about 230 miles north of San Francisco.

He said the victim, who was not identified, didn't evacuate despite receiving an evacuation warning.

Bosenko says the sheriff's department has seven outstanding missing persons reports.

The fire has also claimed the lives of two firefighters and two children and their great-grandmother.

Eight-one-year-old Don Ray Smith was a bulldozer operator who was helping clear vegetation in the path of the wildfire when he died. Redding Fire Inspector Jeremy Stoke was also killed, though no details were provided.

The other three victims — 70-year-old Melody Bledsoe and her two great-grandchildren, 5-year-old James Roberts and 4-year-old Emily Roberts — died when walls of flames swept through the family's rural property on the outskirts of Redding.

Tri County Bank has started a verified fundraiser for all of the victims of the Carr Fire. The Bledsoe family has also has a fundraiser for her husband of 30 years, Ed, who lost everything in the fire.