Wildfires blaze across California Gold Country, ravage historic town

The remote village of Chinese Camp, a town of fewer than 100 residents on the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada in California's Gold Country region, was particularly hard hit by one of the fires

Residents work to stop flames from a burning home from spreading to a neighboring house as the 6-5 Fire burns through the Chinese Camp community of Tuolumne County, California. Picture: Noah Berger/AP

A cluster of lightning-sparked wildfires raged across portions of two Northern California counties on Wednesday, forcing widespread evacuations and engulfing part of an historic Gold Rush mining town once home to thousands of Chinese immigrants.

Wind-whipped flames from nearly two dozen separate blazes have scorched more than 13,000 acres (5,261 hectares) of sun-baked dry grass, brush and timber since a lightning storm ignited the fires on Tuesday, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.