Chinese Camp: 1st look at historic California Gold Rush town damaged by fire

Chinese Camp: 1st look at wildfire that destroyed part of historic California Gold Rush town

New video shows the aftermath of a wildfire that destroyed part of a historic California Gold Rush town.

CHINESE CAMP, Calif. - New video shows the aftermath of a wildfire that destroyed part of a historic California Gold Rush town.

CALFIRE officials have named the cluster of 22 separate fires the TCU Lightning Complex fires burning in Tuolomne and Calaveras counties, which were sparked by lightning on Tuesday.

The fire scorched through 13,371 acres as of Wednesday evening, according to CALFIRE.

One of the largest of those fires has destroyed several buildings in the town of Chinese Camp, 20 miles northeast of Modesto.

Chinese Camp is a designated historic landmark town in the Sierra foothills, and has its origins in the California gold rush.

Authorities haven't yet laid out which historic buildings have been destroyed, or how many.

But video from KCRA in Sacramento confirms the town was heavily damaged, with several structures reduced to ash and rubble.

Damage to the town of Chinese Camp after the 6-5 wildfire tore through it. Sept. 2, 2025

Salena Moyle, who lives there, said it's such a "quiet little place. There's really nothing left. Nothing at all."

Emily Kilgore, a CALFIRE spokeswoman, said it's not uncommon for lightning to spark fires this time of year, but she said there are other things that are unusual about it.

"There may be fires that haven't been identified or discovered yet," she said. "Things can change rapidly."

Of that cluster of fires that make up the TCU Lightning Complex, the fire at Chinese Camp – called 6-5 – and another fire near Vallecito in Calaveras County are the two largest fires, threatening homes and communities.

Mandatory evacuations were still in effect on Wednesday.

CALFIRE said so far there are no reports of any injuries or loss of life.

But the fires are still very active, and they have not yet had a chance to go into some of these burned out areas, yet to do a full damage assessment.

"We had over 16,761 lightning strikes between Tuesday and Wednesday," said CALFIRE Battalion Chief David Acuna. He said there were lightning strikes deep within tree wells that were just waiting to be found. "We're making sure we extinguish each one of those."

Acuna said they would be working to mop up the fire and putting out any embers. Firefighters are also wary of the winds. If they pick up, the fire could reignite. For those residents who stay behind to fight the fire themselves, Acuna said that puts firefighters in a predicament where they have to protect lives first. Property becomes less of a priority in that case.

KTVU's Tom Vacar contributed to this report.