SAN DIEGO – Four charred bodies were found Thursday in an apparent migrant camp burned by one of the wildfires raging across Southern California, authorities said Thursday.

If the fire was responsible for the deaths – which authorities said was not immediately certain – it would mean seven people have died in the flames that have consumed about 750 square miles since the weekend.

Border Patrol agents on routine patrol found the bodies in a wooded area near Barrett Junction, just east of San Diego and along the Mexican border, agency spokeswoman Gloria Chavez said. The area is near a major corridor for illegal immigrants who often walk hours or even days to cross into the United States from Mexico.

Authorities said they discovered the bodies Thursday afternoon but did not know how long ago the victims died.

“They could have been out there a while,” said Paul Parker, a spokesman for the San Diego County medical examiner’s office. They were tentatively identified as three men and one woman.

The area was burned by the Harris Fire, which straddles the Mexican border. That was the same fire that claimed the life of a 52-year-old Tecate, Mexico, man who refused to leave his house when the area was evacuated Sunday.

The other two people killed directly by the wildfires also died in San Diego County, the hardest-hit of seven counties where fires were burning.

Despite the deaths, there were hopeful signs Thursday. Firefighters took advantage of calmer winds and cooler temperatures to launch an aerial assault on several stubborn blazes.

Mandatory evacuation orders were lifted for most residential areas of San Diego.

Associated Press writers Allison Hoffman in San Diego, Martha Mendoza in Running Springs; Scott Lindlaw in Julian; Gillian Flaccus in Jamul; and Thomas Watkins, Jacob Adelman, Chelsea J. Carter and Jeremiah Marquez in Los Angeles contributed to this report