Multiple wildfires spread quickly through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada in Northern California late Tuesday, with one destroying some buildings in the town of Chinese Camp, a historically significant Gold Rush town.

Nine fires were burning between San Joaquin and Sacramento, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire. They ranged from spot fires of just a few acres to the largest, which had burned about 4,000 acres and forced authorities to issue evacuation orders. Many of the fires were likely sparked by a barrage of lightning strikes that hit California early Tuesday, officials said, and they were zero percent contained by late Tuesday evening.

That biggest fire, called the 6-5, was burning in and around Chinese Camp, an important center of

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