MIDDLETOWN, Calif. — Barbara McWilliams told her caretaker she didn’t want to leave her home near Middletown, despite a nearby wildfire. The world traveler and sharp-minded woman with advanced multiple sclerosis said she would be fine.

The decision ended up costing her life. Her body was found late Sunday in her burned-out home after flames kept Lake County sheriff’s officials from reaching her.

The fire that sped through Middletown and other parts of rural Lake County, less than 100 miles north of San Francisco, has been burning nearly unchecked, despite a massive firefighting effort, since Saturday. Fueled by drought, it has consumed more than 95 square miles, injured four firefighters and sent hundreds of people to evacuation centers. Hundreds of homes have burned.

Jennifer Hittson, the caregiver, told the Press Democrat that she left McWilliams’ home around 3 p.m. Saturday, unaware of the fire’s seriousness or how quickly it would grow, even though officers were at that point turning drivers away from Highway 175, which leads to the Cobb Mountain area where McWilliams lived.

Hittson said she called the sheriff’s office twice Saturday and CalFire on Sunday, only to be told by dispatchers, “we will get out there when we can.”