Firefighters are battling a fast-moving wildfire in Central California that's already burned through thousands of acres and damaged and destroyed multiple buildings in a historic Gold Rush town after igniting in a lightning storm Tuesday. The blaze, known as the 6-5 Fire, forced the evacuation of more than 300 people in and near the small town of Chinese Camp in Tuolumne County as it continued to burn out of control Wednesday, officials said. Nearly 350 additional people were told to be ready to evacuate at a moment's notice, a spokesperson for the Tuolumne County Office of Emergency Services told CNN Wednesday. The fire tore through the equivalent of eight football fields every minute on average in its first 10 hours Tuesday. It had scorched nearly 7,000 acres as of Wednesday evening with 0% containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. There were no reports of injuries or deaths from the fire as of Wednesday morning, and multiple structures have been damaged or destroyed, a Cal Fire Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit spokesperson told CNN. At least five homes burned Tuesday in the rural town about 57 miles east of Stockton, which has a mix of freestanding and mobile homes, the Associated Press reported. Outside one house on Tuesday evening, seven people quickly moved large tree branches away from the structure and shoveled sand onto the fire in a desperate attempt to keep the blaze from spreading from the house next door, according to the AP. They worked for about 30 minutes until firefighters arrived. An RV on the property was damaged by the fire. Parts of nearby highways 120 and 49 are closed Wednesday due to the blaze, according to the California Department of Transportation. The California Gold Rush brought thousands of Chinese miners to the United States, where they faced anti-immigrant sentiments and persecution that included an exorbitant Foreign Miners Tax designed to drive them away from mining. Chinese miners settled in the town in 1849, after being driven out of another nearby mining camp, according to Visit Tuolumne County. Originally called Camp Washington, it was soon renamed as Chinese Camp. The fire destroyed the town's historic post office building, CNN affiliate KCRA reported Wednesday. Originally built in 1854, the post office – which was made of stone and brick – had been operating up until it was burned, according to California State Parks. Chinese Camp also has a number of abandoned buildings in various states of disrepair, many of which have been "reclaimed by nature with overgrown greenery," according to Visit Tuolumne County. That greenery is bad news when it comes to the destructive fire. The town, which also served as a backdrop for multiple films, was added to California's Historical Landmarks list in 1949. Lightning sparked the fire now tearing through the historic town, according to Cal Fire. The 6-5 blaze is one of more than a dozen wildfires that erupted Tuesday across California after thunderstorms set off thousands of lightning strikes in the state. Many of these storms were dry thunderstorms — storms in which much of the rain evaporates before it reaches the ground. Since these produce minimal rain, lightning strikes dry ground with little to prevent a spark from turning into an all-out blaze. These storms also produce gusty winds that drive erratic fire behavior. Lightning sparked so many wildfires on Tuesday that Cal Fire has grouped 22 individual fires – including the 6-5 Fire – into the Cal Fire TCU September Lightning Complex. More than 600 fire personnel are assigned to the complex, according to Cal Fire's Tuolumne-Calaveras Unit. Challenging weather conditions will persist for fire crews through at least Thursday with dry conditions and high temperatures in the 90s expected in the area of the fire complex. — CNN
