Heavy rainfall in the Valley fire zone helping effort

Rain fell Wednesday across the sprawling Lake County fire zone, bringing more moisture than expected by fire officials who vowed that nature’s gift would be used against the five-day-old 70,200-acre blaze.

“It’s exactly what we want,” Cal Fire spokesman Paul Lowenthal said.

Lowenthal said the rain - almost half an inch in Lakeport by 4 p.m. - would tamp down the fire to a creep Wednesday instead of the rampage it had been on under sunny skies with a push from the wind. Containment lines, which were set around about one-third of the three-county, 105-square-mile fire, were expected to grow significantly as an army of firefighters worked into the wet night.

“It’s important for us to do everything we can today and hit hard with everything we have,” he said.

As firefighting efforts ramped up, Lake County sheriff’s officials launched a search, aided by cadaver dogs, for fire victims in areas scorched by the blaze that erupted Saturday near Cobb. Authorities said Thursday morning that they had found two additional bodies in homes burned by the fire. Based on the location and evidence, sheriff’s officials said they suspect the victims are Bruce Beven Burns, of Hidden Valley Lake, and Leonard Neft, of Anderson Springs. Both men were previously reported missing after the fire.

The discovery brings the death toll in the blaze to three, including the first victim, Barbara McWilliams, 72, whose body was found in her Anderson Springs home Sunday.

Authorities also said they had arrested four people suspected of intending to loot in the fire zone.

Starting Thursday the weather gets dry and warm, with temperatures this weekend expected soar back into the 90s, quickly drying the brush and grass and returning the advantage to the fire.

But Wednesday’s weather favored firefighters and fire officials redoubled their efforts.

Hundreds more firefighters had poured into base camp during the night, bringing the attack force to 3,100.

Wednesday’s rainfall lasted for hours, ranging from downpours in Middletown and the mountainous Cobb area to a steady rain in Lakeport, where scores of fire officials were managing the blaze.

Lowenthal, stationed at the Lakeport fire headquarters, said the change in weather had reduced operations maps taped to the side of trailers to tie-dyed pictures as the ink ran. It was an image far removed from those produced at the start of the fire, an inferno that sped through miles of southern Lake County, from Cobb Mountain to Hidden Valley Lake, southeast into unoccupied rugged terrain of Napa County and west into the geothermal fields above northern Sonoma County.

As helpful as it was in Wednesday’s firefighting efforts, the rainfall also had a down side, Lowenthal said.

It was turning the ash permeating the region to a sticky, muddy mess that posed safety issues for firefighters and difficulties for equipment negotiating soppy ground and slick roadways.

It also produced a flurry of phone calls from many of the 15,800 evacuees who wanted to know if they could go return home. “They think now they can go home because it’s raining,” Lowenthal said. “Hopefully this will help control it a lot quicker, but we’re not there yet. There’s a lot of work to be done.”

Downed power lines - which aren’t currently active - are everywhere and utility crews will need to use the narrow rural roadways to get repairs done without worrying about residents coming and going, he said.

Fire-weakened trees - now more likely to topple in wet soil - are another hazard.

As of Wednesday evening the 35 percent containment lines were mainly along Highway 29 north of Hidden Valley Lake to south of Sieglar Canyon Road. A small chunk of line also was completed at The Geysers.

The rest of the fire, however, was uncontrolled and still growing, after gaining 2,800 acres overnight from Tuesday.

Law enforcement officers with dogs trained to look for dead people were searching Wednesday afternoon in the Cobb Mountain area and Middletown, Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said.

Deputies are investigating three cases involving four missing people in those two general areas, Martin said. The sheriff gave limited details and declined to say where in those areas the searches were occurring. He did say the missing people are a couple - a man and a woman - and two individual men.

Martin said he didn’t know the circumstances, including whether the people may have been trapped in their homes or if they couldn’t get out of an area before the fire arrived.

Meanwhile, Cal Fire spokeswoman Amy Head said she understood investigators were “making some good progress” on determining the cause of the fire.

Residents of High Valley Road, about a half-mile from Bottle Rock Road in Cobb, have said they saw the fire start in and around a grass field near a home that was unoccupied on Saturday afternoon. They said the flames were driven quickly out of control and expanded from their neighborhood on the northern flank of Cobb Mountain uphill toward the south and beyond.

But while investigators have cordoned off the house and yard at issue, Cal Fire officials - as is routine - have not divulged any information about the their findings.

Cal Fire Capt. Richard Cordova said the agency’s law enforcement branch has to be careful not to taint evidence and witness statements before their investigation is concluded and all possible causes have been ruled out, including lightning, electrical causes, fuel ignition, arson, power lines and a multitude of other possibilities.

“You’re looking at property loss. You’re looking at a life lost. You’re looking at injuries to firefighters,” he said. “Someone could be held criminally liable for this.”

He said the investigations run on their own time, from days to weeks to months.

Officially an evacuated town, Middletown bustled with activity Wednesday as utility workers made repairs, firefighters checked hot spots, police officers patrolled for trouble and downtown businesses opened shop.

The skies opened up over Middletown in the noon hour, bringing a heavy downpour and smiles and cheers from patrons at the Cowpoke Café. “It’s a little too late, but at least we finally got it. I hope it puts the fire out,” said Chris Simon, who lost her St. Helena Creek house to the fire.

“Anybody that walks in, we’re feeding. I just want to help people who need food,” restaurant manager Shawna Wolfe said.

Downtown businesses were open, including a bank, gas station and Hardester’s Market and Hardware. But a few blocks away lay the scars of an inferno that left some blocks untouched while others were leveled.

On the law enforcement front, Mendocino deputies were advised Monday of a suspicious car near Hoberg’s Resort on Emorford Road, an area closed to the public although some homes remained untouched. The deputies spotted a black Honda driving out of the area and chased it to a dead end near Highway 175 and Forestry Road, Mendocino County sheriff’s Capt. Greg Van Patten said.

The driver, James Dotson, 23, of Cobb was arrested on suspicion of vehicular fleeing, child endangerment and methamphetamine possession. Passenger Richard Tillman, 27, of Cobb was wanted on two, no-bail arrest warrants involving probation violations out of Mendocino County and was taken into custody. A 14-year-old and another adult in the car were released.

A Lake County man who was wearing a yellow rain jacket and a CHP hat in an evacuated area was arrested on suspicion of petty theft during a state of emergency and wearing identification to impersonate a police officer, the Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday.

Steven Fredrick Worley, 36, of Whispering Pines was spotted by a deputy Monday afternoon in a car with in Whispering Pines, a community on Cobb Mountain close to the fire’s starting point on Saturday, Lt. Steve Brooks said in a news release.

Given permission to search the car, the deputy found six cellphones, a portable Wi-Fi hotspot, an iPod and a wallet with identification belonging to another person, he said. A locked safe with an electric keypad was in the back seat, and Worley said it had been given to him by a friend, Brooks said. The deputy also found an envelope containing 13 sharp obsidian points that Worley said he found along a creek.

Martin said Wednesday that no one has been arrested specifically for looting, but people taken into custody for other reasons, including Worley and another man caught in possession of burglary tools, were likely involved in looting or attempted burglary, he said.

For complete wildfire coverage go to: www.pressdemocrat.com/wildfire

Staff Writers Mary Callahan, Paul Payne and Glenda Anderson contributed to this report.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been revised to reflect information provided by the Lake County Sheriff’s Office on Thursday morning disclosing the discovery of two additional bodies found in homes burned by the Valley fire. The Sheriff’s Office said Wednesday that search crews had found no bodies.