Wildfire rips through historic California Gold Rush town

A fast-moving wildfire tore through the historic community of Chinese Camp in California on Tuesday, scorching thousands of acres and destroying homes in the rural Gold Rush settlement founded in the mid-1800s by Chinese miners.

The blaze, dubbed the 6-5 Fire, ballooned to 6.25 square miles in a matter of hours, prompting mandatory evacuations across Chinese Camp and along surrounding highways, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CalFire). As of Tuesday night, officials said the fire remained uncontained, with no reports yet of injuries or fatalities.

At least five homes were engulfed in flames, CalFire reported. Residents scrambled to protect their properties as the fire bore down. Outside one home, a group of seven people used shovels and branches in a frantic attempt to prevent flames from spreading from a nearby structure, managing to hold the line until firefighters arrived. An RV on the same property was damaged in the blaze.

Officials confirmed the fire was ignited by lightning, one of more than a dozen lightning-caused wildfires that erupted across California on Tuesday. Additional resources — including bulldozers, fire engines, and aircraft — have been requested to help contain the expanding flames.