UPDATE: THURSDAY, 6:15 AM

Cal Fire officials confirm that two bodies were found Thursday morning, raising the death toll of the Valley Fire to three.

Human remains were located in the Hidden Valley area and the Anderson Springs area.

Officials, using information based on location and evidence, believe one of the victims are Bruce Beven Burns, who was reported missing on Sept. 15 in Hidden Valley.

Burns owned a recycling business in Hidden Valley, and those who knew him said he was a gentle man.

The other victim, officials say, is missing former Mercury News reporter Leonard Neft, who was reported missing on Sept. 14 near the Anderson Springs area.

The deadly fire took the life of Barbara McWilliams, 72, Monday who was tragically trapped inside her home as the Valley Fire swept through her neighborhood.

LAKE COUNTY (KRON) — Thursday’s rain over the deadly Valley Fire gave crews much needed relief and an upper hand at containing the out of control blaze before temperatures start to increase this weekend.

Thousands of firefighters have been battling the destructive fire since Saturday, which has consumed 73,700 acres across the North Bay. But the rain has helped improve conditions and fire suppression efforts.

“There is minimal growth around the perimeter of the fire except for where we have containment,” said Cal Fire spokesman Paul Lowenthal.

“Instead of having active fire behavior, that pretty started to snuff it out and puts it into what we call a ‘creasing and smoldering state.’ We want to take advantage of that.”

Fire officials have called on more firefighting resources and increasing personnel up to 3,580 to help knock down the blaze.

“We have a lot of resources here to try to do everything we can to start containing this thing and button it up.”

With no rain in the forecast and a warming trend expected to increase temperatures Friday on through the weekend, Lowenthal says that crews will need to take advantage of today’s mild conditions to contain the blaze.

“Now we’re going to start with the warmth and drying effect,” Lowenthal said. “The idea is to get in there and keep doing a lot of hard work both in the air and on the ground, and really start trying to get this containment percentage up as quickly as possible before the warm weather starts up again.”

The devastating fire is currently ranked ninth most damaging wildfire to ever hit California. The ranking is based on the number of structures damaged, according to Cal Fire statistics, but its rank will likely change when the fire is contained and full damage is assessed, fire officials said.

Thousands of people were forced to evacuate their homes and stay in evacuation centers all over the North Bay. The largest evacuation center is at Napa County Fairgrounds where 1,000 people have set up camp.

585 houses have burned to the ground in the wildfire and Cal Fire says that number will rise.

Nearly 8,000 structures are still threatened by the massive firestorm.

Leonard Neft, a former reporter for the San Jose Mercury News was reported missing by his wife. Neft’s house burned down but his car was found burned Tuesday evening on the route he would have taken to try to escape.

Edwin Null was reported missing by his family. The circumstances of his disappearance is unknown but his daughter took to Facebook asking people at shelters to look for him.

Three out of the six communities have been destroyed by the raging flames: Middletown, Cobb and Hidden Valley.

Police are on the look out for looters in the area and have arrested at least two suspects with burned out safes in their vehicles.

For more information about the fire perimeter and evacuation centers, check out KRON4’s interactive map.