CHINESE CAMP, Calif. (AP) — One of nearly two dozen fires burning across Northern California on Wednesday settled in the 1850s by thousands of Chinese miners who had faced discrimination and were driven out of a nearby camp.

The quick-moving fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills threatened the few remaining historic structures in Chinese Camp, forced the evacuation of its roughly 100 residents and closed a highway that’s a main route between San Francisco and Yosemite National Park.

WATCH: Flames overtake structures in historic Chinese Camp Wildfire devastates historic California gold mining town, homes burn in blaze caused by lightning

It’s not clear yet whether the town’s handful of Gold Rush era structures -- including an old post office built in 1854 -- were damaged in the fire that

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