Many evacuated as Wildfires continue to rage across California US

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Thousands of firefighters battled raging wildfires on Sunday in drought-parched California, where officials evacuated entire neighbourhoods and closed miles of highway in the path of the inferno, which has claimed at least one life.

Some 6 000 homes were evacuated as 21 large fires burned in the bone-dry western US state, which is in the throes of a historic drought.

A total of 49 000ha of land have burned so far, according to figures provided by the state.

Governor Jerry Brown's office said that some 9 600 people were battling the fires early on Sunday.

Dry lightning strikes sparked most of the fires, while the causes of others remained unknown. But authorities said they did not suspect foul play.

Thousands of lightning bolts since Thursday caused hundreds of smaller fires throughout the state, but most of the blazes were concentrated in the north, California fire chiefs said.