Flames were bearing down on Sandy Butler’s home in the wooded hills of Northern California when she called her son to say that she and her husband were going to climb a fence and try to find shelter in a nearby pond. It’s the last the family heard from the couple, who were missing Thursday after a fire roared with menacing speed across the Sierra Nevada foothills and destroyed much of the town of Berry Creek. “We’re still hoping and praying for good news,” said Jessica Fallon, who has two children with the Butler’s grandson and considers them her own grandparents.
