00:00A cluster of lightning-sparked wildfires raged across portions of two northern California
00:07counties on Wednesday, forcing widespread evacuations and engulfing part of an historic
00:12gold rush mining town once home to thousands of Chinese immigrants.
00:17Wind-whipped flames from nearly two dozen separate blazes have scorched more than 13,000 acres
00:23of sun-baked dry grass, brush and timber since a lightning storm ignited the fires on Tuesday.
00:29The remote village of Chinese Camp was particularly hard hit by one of the fires.
00:35The blaze has destroyed dozens of homes in and around Chinese Camp, a remnant of the gold-rush-era
00:41mining community first settled by thousands of Chinese laborers in the mid-19th century.
00:47The entire town, and several other communities in Tualumni County and neighboring Calaveras
00:52County, remained under evacuation orders as a firefighting force of more than 600 personnel
00:58battled to contain the blazes.
01:00The full extent of property losses and evacuations had yet to be determined, but there were no
01:05immediate reports of casualties.
01:12The
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