Elderly, Disabled Woman Trapped in Home, Died in Valley Fire

Photo: Destruction from Valley Fire. Credit: Al Francis, NapaSonomaPhotos.com

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An elderly disabled woman who was unable to escape her home died in the Valley Fire burning in Lake, Napa and Sonoma counties, Lake County sheriff’s officials said today.

The sheriff’s office’s dispatch center received a request at 7:12 p.m. Saturday to assist the woman at a Hot Springs Road residence where hundreds of homes in the Cobb and Loch Lomond areas were evacuated during the first few hours of the fire, sheriff’s Lt. Steve Brooks said.

Authorities went to the area around 7:30 p.m. but were unable to reach the subdivision, which was already engulfed in flames, Brooks said.

After the fire subsided, personnel arrived at the woman’s residence and found her remains. Her name is being withheld until she is positively identified and her next of kin are notified of the death, Brooks said.

Full fire coverage:

• Highway Through Hell: Video Shows Driver’s Escape from Valley Fire Inferno
• One Dead as Valley Fire Explodes to 61,000 Acres, 5 Percent Containment
• FEMA Grant to Cover Valley Firefighting Costs
• Evacuated Fire Victims Settling into Tent City
• One Person Killed in Valley Fire; 50,000 Acres Burned; Hundreds of Homes Lost
• Exhaustion, Desperation, Humor at Calistoga Evacuation Center
• “Huge Destruction. Homes Destroyed Will Be in Hundreds”
• Valley Fire Roars Through 40,000 Acres in 12 Hours

The Valley Fire started around 1:20 p.m. Saturday in the area of Cobb Mountain.

It was reported to have burned 61,000 acres and is only 5 percent contained as of this morning. Cal Fire officials said hundreds of homes and other structures have been destroyed.

--Bay City News