The number of deaths from two wildfires burning in California has risen to five as teams continue to search properties ravaged by the blaze.

Police in Lake County say they believe they have found the remains of Bruce Beven Burns, 65, and Leonard Neft, 69, in the ruins of their homes.

Both fires still raged on Thursday but cooler weather and rain brought some respite for firefighters.

The Valley and Butte fires have destroyed more than 700 homes.

Barbara McWilliams, a 72-year-old woman with multiple sclerosis, died earlier in the week after being unable to get out of her house.

All three victims died when the rapidly moving Valley Fire swept through mountain communities north of the wine-producing region of Napa Valley on Saturday, forcing thousands of people to flee.

Image caption A log smouldering near Loch Lomond

At the scene - James Cook, BBC News, California

In the past 24 hours, nature has given a little back, offering northern California's firefighters some much needed time and rest. At lunchtime on Wednesday a hard rain began to fall on the blackened ground, damping the flames and turning ash and soot to mud.

By sundown the downpour was intense. Surely this would extinguish the Valley Fire, smouldering over an area twice the size of San Francisco? Not a chance, one firefighter told me, as he rested on a ridge in the mountains, the fire hissing in the brush around us.

Such was the intensity of this blaze that it would take more than a day's deluge to put it out, he predicted.

Sure enough, as dawn broke - bright, clear and warm - fire chiefs confirmed that the Valley Fire was still burning and was expected to flare up again as high temperatures return.

Nature's respite was all too brief.

Image caption A log smoulders near Cobbe

Nearly 600 homes are confirmed to have been destroyed in the Valley Fire along with hundreds of other structures.

More than 7,500 residential properties remain at risk, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Calfire).

The agency says the Valley Fire now covers 73,700 acres and is 35% contained.

The other two deaths were further east in the Butte fire, which covers 70,760 acres and is 49% contained. It has destroyed about 250 homes.

Across California, nearly 13,000 firefighters are battling eight large wildfires.

Image caption Smoke near Loch Lomond