California | A fire devastates a city dating back to the gold rush

(San Francisco) A city dating from the time of the gold rush in California was in ruins on Wednesday after thunderstorms triggered around twenty forest fires.

Chinese Camp was ravaged by flames on Tuesday, as shown by the photos of the smoking carcasses of 19th century buildings. Some constructions have even been reduced to ashes.

About 5,000 hectares left for smoke due to 22 separate fires that declared themselves about 160 kilometers east of San Francisco, according to the authorities.

This set of households, designated as the “TCU September Lightning Complex”, started when lightning hit the region and ignited the dry vegetation.

Hundreds of firefighters are mobilized to fight against the flames in this rural and isolated area, where the fire sometimes spreads through places that are difficult to access, according to the Calfire agency.

“A number of structures have been damaged or destroyed, and an inspection team was dispatched to the scene,” the Californian fire -fighting authority said in a statement.

The wind complicates the fight against flames and “several communities remain threatened, including the ancestral land of tribes” indigenous, she said.

Evacuation orders and alerts were issued for the region.

In the middle of the 19th century, the gold rush attracted tens of thousands of prospectors in California, especially from China.

Chinese Camp is described by the region’s tourist office as an “abandoned ghost city”, but it still houses dozens of people, according to data from the American census.

It includes several historic buildings, including a post office built 170 years ago and one of the oldest Catholic churches in this part of California.

Forest fires are part of the natural life of the American West. But according to scientists, climate change increases their frequency and intensity.