California Governor Jerry brown declared a state of emergency in three northern California counties late Wednesday after a wildfire that already has destroyed 64 homes advanced with 25-meter flames on a tiny community near a national park. Firefighters attempted to block the path of the so-called Ponderosa Fire, which had burned 9,700 hectares before it reached the community of Mineral, just south of Lassen National Volcanic Park. The lightning-sparked fire was threatening Mineral after crews had turned it away from two small communities to the west. More than 3,000 people have been forced to flee their homes in two rural California counties, about 200 kilometers north of the state capital, Sacramento.