Couple, aged 100 and 98, among the victims of Californian wildfires

"The only thing worse would have been if one survived without the other."

An elderly couple were among the fatalities in the wildfires sweeping across Northern California this week. Charles Rippey, 100, and his wife Sara, 98, died early on Monday morning when their home in Atlas Peak, Napa County caught fire. Charles, who needed a walker to get around, had been trying to reach Sara when they died, according to their son Mike. "From where they found his body, he was trying to get from his room to her room," he said, reports The San Francisco Gate. "He never made it. Even if he had gotten there, he wouldn’t have been able to get her out." The couple's caregiver tried to get them out of the building but it was quickly consumed by the flames.

"She went down to get my father and all the windows started to explode and (there was) smoke and heat and all that everywhere," their other son Chuck told NBC.

"She just couldn’t find them."

Charles, nicknamed 'Peach', and Sara had known each other since school, growing up together in a small town in Wisconsin.

Charles was a World War II veteran, rising to the rank of captain of the Army Corps of Engineers during his time in the military.

The couple moved to California over forty years ago and celebrated 75 years of marriage in March of this year, as well as Charles' 100th birthday in July.

"Peach and Sara are immensely loved and missed," their granddaughter Ruby Gibney told local station KTVU. "The only thing worse would have been if one survived without the other." The couple are among 17 people who have so far been confirmed dead due to the wildfires, according to CNN. The blazes have devastated more than 122,000 acres in Sonoma, Napa and Mendocino counties, best-known as wine regions. Over 1,500 homes and businesses have been destroyed while 20,000 residents have been evacuated. https://twitter.com/nbcbayarea/status/917929876488966146