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MIDDLETOWN, Calif. (KTVU) -- Some Lake County evacuees got the green light to return home Friday, even as teams with cadaver dogs were brought in to try to locate missing people.
Containment on the Valley Fire in Lake County is up to 45 percent Friday night as some residents were being allowed back to their property.
But a return of hot weather this weekend has Cal Fire concerned. Almost a week after the fire broke out, a handful of people still haven't been located.
The Lake County Sheriff's Department tells KTVU they are still looking for six missing people.
Friday night, KTVU met with two canine teams that arrived here from San Bernadino County Sheriff's to help search for human remains.
Tosca, a Belgium Malinois, and her handler Sharon Gattas just finished a full day of searching.
"It's pretty much a war zone out there. It's devastating. There's nothing standing," said Gattas.
Tosca's keen sense of smell helps her distinguish human remains in the midst of smoke and other scents.
"If somebody's out there, hopefully we'll be able to find them and bring closure to that family that's waiting," said Gattas.
Gattas and Tosca are joined by Peter Sellas and his canine partner Dublin, a Labrador Retriever. Sellas says he lost his home along with hundreds of others in a massive fire in San Bernardino in 2003.
"I understand the human side of loss. I'm inside someone's home. This is all their belongings. They're destroyed. They're gone," said Sellas.
The canine teams are working with the Lake County Sheriff's Department to search for people reported missing by focusing on their homes or where they were last seen.
"They're taking us from house to house, having us search totally burned out houses. So you're running the dog thru broken glass, fallen roofs, there's nails everywhere," said Sellas.
There were no discoveries Friday, but when Tosca comes upon human remains she gives a specific sign.
"She sits and she stares at the source," said Gattas.
Dublin barks to signal a find. The handlers say remains can be in a form that no human would be able to detect.
"It's like powder. It got that hot. It's amazing the things that have melted out there that you would never have imagined would melt," said Gattas.
As for the firefight, more heat in the weather forecast is cause for concern.
"With temperatures on the rise though, we're very concerned that we're going to see more flare ups from this fire. We could see this fire pick back up. That's why we've been working so hard with well over 4,100 firefighters," said Cal Fire's Chief Public Information Officer Daniel Berlant.
For the cadaver dog teams, the task is grim but necessary.
"You sleep very well at night knowing that you're helping," said Sellas.
The two teams will be back out searching through this weekend. They tell KTVU the devastation they see here in Lake County among the worst they've experienced.