CHINESE CAMP: A historic Gold Rush mining town that was once home to thousands of Chinese immigrants was engulfed by a cluster of lightning-sparked wildfires that burned across parts of two Northern California counties on Wednesday, forcing widespread evacuations.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reports that since a lightning storm started the fires on Tuesday, wind-driven flames from around two dozen distinct fires had burned over 13,000 acres (5,261 hectares) of sun-baked dry grass, brush, and timber.
One of the fires struck particularly hard in the isolated settlement of Chinese Camp, a town of less than 100 people in California’s Gold Country, in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada.
