Officials stated on Tuesday that two more bodies have been discovered in an area scorched by a forest fire that has been surging for a fifth day in northern California near the Oregon border, bringing the total number of deaths in the state’s deadliest blaze this year to four.

According to a statement issued by the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office, the latest two victims were discovered on Monday at different homes along the highway that passes through the fire zone in the Klamath National Forest about 300 miles (483 km) north of San Francisco.

The remains of two other people were discovered on Sunday inside a burned-out vehicle that drove off the driveway of another home within the same highway, sheriff’s officials said on Monday.

Officials have stated that no further details on any of the deaths will be released until a correct diagnosis has been made and the next of family members has been informed.

The McKinney fire, which began on Friday, has charred more than 56,000 acres (22,662 hectares) of drought-parched timber, tall grass, and brush, according to fire officials on Tuesday.

As of Tuesday, approximately 4,500 people were under evacuation orders, according to sheriff’s spokesperson Courtney Kreider, who also stated that an estimated 100 structures, ranging from sheds to houses, had caught fire. Klamath River, an unincorporated riverfront enclave with fewer than 200 residents, was heavily damaged, losing numerous homes and its community center to the disaster, according to Kreider. Across the country, nearly 5,000 homes were listed as being victimized by fires.

The death toll more than doubled following a night of relatively mild fire growth in comparison to previous nights. According to Dennis Burns, a fire behavior analyst for the incident management team, high humidity levels helped tamp down the flames while crews worked to carve buffer lines to protect communities on the outskirts of the fire zone. Much of the attempt was concentrated on the outskirts of Yreka, the Siskiyou County seat and former Gold Rush town that now has a population of 7,800 people. Thunderstorms in the forecast, according to Burns, could bring much-needed rain to the area, as well as irregular winds that could reignite the flames, as well as lightning strikes that could spark new fires.