California wildfires: Historic Gold Rush town devastated by blaze

A raging wildfire tore through the small Northern California town of Greenville overnight, burning over 428 square miles to the ground.

Stretches of the isolated community have been left unrecognisable and reduced to a pile of ash.

The area was a Gold Rush town, with many of its buildings dating back to the 19th century.

Its Main Street facades were reminiscent of old Westerns.

“We lost Greenville tonight,” Greenville’s Congress Representative Doug LaMalfa said in a Facebook video.

The town’s isolated location contributed to a feeling that it was lost to time, preserved from the evolution of time.