Portions of a historic California Gold Rush town once home to Chinese miners was burned as hundreds of lightning strikes sparked nearly two dozen fires across Northern California.
The 22 wildfires, which erupted Tuesday in multiple locations in Calaveras, Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties, together have burned 12,473 acres as of Wednesday morning, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The largest of the fires — the 6-5 fire — forced the evacuation of Chinese Camp, a California Gold Rush mining town where thousands of Chinese immigrants settled in the late 1800s. Structures were burned, but the extent of the destruction wasn’t immediately clear, said Emily Kilgore, public information officer with the Cal Fire Tuolumne Calaveras Unit.
Another fire — the 2-7 fire — destroyed structures in Vallecito, a historic mining town in Calaveras County that’s home to one of the state’s largest caves, Kilgore said.
There were no reported injuries or deaths. The 6-5 fire was still uncontained as of Wednesday morning.
Evacuation orders were also issued for Six Bit Ranch Road, Six Bit Gulch Road, Red Hill Road, Don Pedro Dam Road, Old Don Pedro Dam Road, Menkee Hess Road, all roads east of Highway 108 from Junction 59 to Highway 49, both sides of Highway 120 from Chinese Camp to Highway 120 Bridge, and Rojo Shawmut Road.
While the exact cause of the fires was still being investigated, they ignited during a spate of dry lightning, Kilgore said. The fires were burning in remote, rugged areas that were difficult for crews to access, she said. Flames chewed swiftly through parched brush oak woodlands that had received no significant precipitation in months, she said.
The fires were each denoted by two numbers — the first indicating the battalion number associated with the area where they started, and the second the fire’s numerical order, Kilgore said. For instance, the 6-5 fire was the fifth fire to be reported in the sixth battalion, she said.
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