(Image source from: KFGO.com)

Northern California fire officials hope, if weather conditions permit, to let more residents back into their homes on Wednesday as firefighters look to gain more control over a fatal wildfire, the sixth most destructive in state history.

According to National Weather Service, calm winds were expected on Wednesday in the Carr Film are, about 150 miles north of Sacramento. Temperatures over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and low humidity were likely to persist.

"Repopulation of communities affected by evacuations will continue as conditions allow," The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire) said in an advisory on Tuesday.

The fire has claimed six lives, including two firefighters, since gale-force winds whipped the blaze into a flaming cyclone that jumped a river and roared with little warning into Redding and adjacent communities in the scenic Shasta-Trinity region on the night of July 26.

Four people were missing in the fire zone as 16 people listed as missing turned up safe, a Redding police official said.

Lessened winds on Tuesday helped 4,100 firefighters gain significant ground on the fire. They have cut containment lines around 30 percent of the fire’s perimeter, up from 5 percent during much of the past week, even as the footprint of scorched landscape grew to almost 113,000 acres (46,000 hectares).

The conditions allowed some evacuees to return home, though as many as 37,000 remained displaced.

The Ranch and River fires have charred more than 80,000 acres (32,000 hectares), with containment measured at 12 percent for the two together.

According to the National Interagency Fire Center, the Carr Fire stood as the most formidable of 94 wildfires burning across 13 U.S. Western states, from Texas to Alaska.

With 17 sizable progressive fire reported, California has been one of the hardest hits, with a volatile mix of triple digit-temperatures, erratic winds and drought-parched vegetation fueling aggravated wildfire activity.

By Sowmya Sangam