Trevor Hughes

USA TODAY

LAKE ISABELLA, Calif. — As crews searched Saturday for more wildfire victims, officials said scorching heat predicted for the next week will likely help fuel the deadly Erskine Fire and complicate efforts to control the blaze.

Two people are confirmed dead in the 35,000-acre wildfire that began Thursday night, and officials say they fear they may find more victims in the tangled mess left behind by the inferno. The two people who died were apparently overcome by smoke as they fled their home. The fire called an “ugly monster” by one firefighter consumed about 150 homes across the area, many of them quick-to-burn mobile homes and trailers reduced to little more than melted aluminum.

Firefighters found what appears to be a set of human remains while going through neighborhoods, but because they were so badly burned forensic investigators will have to determine whether they belonged to a person or animal, Kern County Sheriff’s spokesman Ray Pruitt said.

In a briefing Saturday morning, authorities reassured evacuees that they’re closely patrolling neighborhoods to prevent looters and said they hoped by Saturday afternoon to have a better handle on exactly what homes were destroyed, a painstaking process requiring in-person visits by assessment teams working in the still-dangerous environment.

Hundreds of people have been evacuated from the area. Authorities won’t let them return until they’ve got a better handle on the blaze. More wind and scorching temperatures predicted for the next week will make that harder, although the fire on Friday largely burned its way east away from homes.

At least 1,500 structures remain threatened, and the fire on Friday at one point jumped the main road from the town of Lake Isabella east toward the South Lake area, forcing authorities to divert drivers.

Some ranchers in the area are getting increasingly frustrated they can’t return to their property to feed and water their valuable cattle and voiced their frustration to authorities.

“The problem is this fire keeps shifting,” Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood said Friday night in response to those concerns. “We are throwing all the resources we have at this.”

Firefighters are still trying to control hot spots of fire within populated areas so cadaver dogs can begin their grim work. Calif. Gov. Jerry Brown on Friday afternoon declared a state of emergency for the county, and he is seeking a federal disaster declaration. Those declarations will help both fight the fire and assist residents in recovering from the damage. The fire is considered 0% contained, but authorities said that will likely rise significantly by Saturday evening.

At 35,000 acres, the fire is twice the size of Manhattan. Many large wildfires are burning across the Southwest.The Erskine Fire is considered one of the most damaging because it has killed two people and destroyed at least 80 homes, along with miles of electrical and telephone lines.

Contributing: The Associated Press