The US Forest Service said one of the victims killed in the McKinney fire, the largest in California this year, was a woman in her 70s who had been monitoring the "long-beloved" wildfires.
Kathy Schopman has served as a fire watchdog for nearly five decades, according to a post from her Klamath National Forest Facebook account on Monday announcing her death. Four deaths have been confirmed in the McKinney fire.
"It is with great sadness that we must announce that Klamath National Forest has lost one of them," the post read. "...Kathy died at her home in the Klamath River community as a result of the McKinney fire."
The scenic Klamath River Village, home to about 200 people, was set ablaze before last week, destroying the community hall, grocery store and post office.
Fire officials said the McKinney fire had burned more than 60,000 acres as of Monday evening and was 55 percent contained. Last week, severe thunderstorms brought torrential rain - slowing the fire's growth but causing flooding and mudslides in parts of the burn scar.
The fire was reported on July 29, and the cause of its outbreak is still under investigation. So far, 185 buildings have been destroyed and 11 others damaged.
Forrest Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the time of Schopman's death or his finding. According to Cal Fire, the four deaths are the only deaths from wildfires in California this year.
The Forest Service said Shoopman started as a fire watcher in 1974 at Baldy Mountain Lookout, near where the wildfires are burning. The job often required living in a tower in the middle of the woods during fire season, observing large tracts of land for signs of fire. She has also worked at Lake Mountain Lookout, and since 1993, Buckhorn Lookout.
"Kathy was also a talented artist, gardener, and animal lover," the post said.
The other victims in the fire have not been identified. The Siskiyou County Sheriff's Office said search teams found two bodies on August 1 in separate homes along Route 96, a highway that runs along the Klamath River, 350 miles north of San Francisco. The police office said that the previous day, firefighters had found two bodies in a burnt car along a road near the highway.