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Sacramento: Fires fed by raging winds raced across parts of Northern California, destroying dozens of homes, threatening hundreds of others and leaving a firefighter severely burned.
The fires were concentrated in areas in north and south Sacramento, the state capital, while separate blazes burned near the coast.
A nearly 6.5-square-kilometre wildfire destroyed 21 homes and about 30 other structures in Palermo, a town of about 5,000 residents, said Joshpae White, a California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection spokesman. It was about 50 per cent contained on Tuesday night.
The community about 100 kilometres north of Sacramento was evacuated temporarily while at least 350 firefighters fought to protect homes. About 50 residents planned to spend the night at an evacuation centre.
A fire captain fighting a blaze just south of Sacramento was hospitalised with severe burns after the grass fire unexpectedly changed direction and became more intense.
Sacramento Metro Fire Department Capt. Jeff Lynch said the captain was heavily sedated in the University of California, Davis Regional Burn Centre in Sacramento with third-degree burns to his hands and second-degree burns to his arms.
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