Wildfire devastates historic California gold mining town, homes burn in blaze caused by lightning

CHINESE CAMP, Calif. (AP) — One of nearly two dozen fires burning across Northern California on Wednesday scorched homes in a Gold Rush town settled in the 1850s by thousands of Chinese miners who had faced discrimination and were driven out of a nearby camp.

The quick-moving fire in the Sierra Nevada foothills threatened the few remaining historic structures in Chinese Camp, forced the evacuation of its roughly 100 residents and closed a highway that’s a main route between San Francisco and Yosemite National Park.

It’s not clear yet whether the town’s handful of Gold Rush era structures -- including an old post office built in 1854 -- were damaged in the fire that erupted Tuesday and continued burning without any containment.

A shuttered Catholic church dating back to 1855 appeared to have survived the flames. The town's general store where tourists could pickup supplies and see historic artifacts also seemed to be intact. But on some lots, all that remained were charred brick walls and scorched trees.

A large number of lightning strikes early Tuesday set off at least 22 fires that have burned about 20 square miles (52 square kilometers) in Calaveras, Tuolumne and Stanislaus counties, said Emily Kilgore, a spokesperson for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the state’s chief fire agency.

The fires are spread across the region about 120 miles (190 kilometers) east of San Francisco. There have been no reports of injuries, but several structures were destroyed in two of the fires, Kilgore said Wednesday. Damage assessments have not been completed.

Many of the fires are in remote and rugged areas, some with very difficult access, Kilgore said.

“There still may be fires that haven’t been discovered yet,” Kilgore said, warning that more evacuations may be necessary. Temperatures were expected to be in the 90s over the next few days with little rain in sight.

Strong winds were adding to the challenge as the flames strengthened in areas filled with dry, tall grass and brush, CalFire said.

The largest of the fires crossed 10 square miles (26 square kilometers) around Chinese Camp, where at least five homes burned. During the first hours, residents moved tree branches and shoveled sand onto flames in a desperate attempt stop them from spreading until firefighters arrived. A recreational vehicle on the property was damaged.

Chinese Camp, now a crossroads for tourists traveling to Yosemite, flourished in the 1850s as a stagecoach stop and supply hub for mining camps during the Gold Rush.

Thousands of Chinese came to California during the Gold Rush and faced persecution that included an exorbitant Foreign Miners Tax designed to drive them away from mining. It was a time when Chinese people all across the state faced widespread discrimination.

The town grew as the Chinese miners arrived after being thrown out of a nearby camp by European miners who didn't want any competition and discriminated against the Chinese. Originally called Camp Washington, its name was soon changed to Chinese Camp to reflect the thousands of new settlers.

But within three decades, most of the Chinese residents had moved away, the last two leaving in the early 1920s, said Stephen Provost, who recently wrote “Chinese Camp: The Haunting History of California’s Forgotten Boomtown.”

The saloons, temples, stables and homes built by the Chinese have long been gone too, he said.

But some structures built by European settlers in the 1800s could still be found, including a saloon, a boarding house and a few old residences, said Provost, whose wife, Sharon, also has written about the town’s past.

“It was like a town that had been trapped in time,” he said recalling his first visit.

Now he is anxiously waiting for news about what’s left.

“These are places that are personal to our hearts,” Provost said. “We got there just in time.”

Brumfield reported from Cockeysville, Maryland. Associated Press reporter John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed.

Exterior walls stand at a building destroyed by the TCU September Lightning Complex fire in the Chinese Camp community of Tuolumne County, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

A resident passes a home destroyed by the TCU September Lightning Complex fire in the Chinese Camp community of Tuolumne County, Calif., on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Residents work to stop flames from a burning home from spreading to a neighboring house as the 6-5 Fire burns through the Chinese Camp community of Tuolumne County, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Residents work to stop flames from a burning home from spreading to a neighboring house as the 6-5 Fire burns through the Chinese Camp community of Tuolumne County, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

A residents works to stop flames from a burning home from spreading to a neighboring house as the 6-5 Fire burns through the Chinese Camp community of Tuolumne County, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Flames consume a garage as the 6-5 Fire burns through the Chinese Camp community of Tuolumne County, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

Layne Smith, left, clears vegetation to stop flames from spreading to his home as the 6-5 Fire burns through the Chinese Camp community of Tuolumne County, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

A firefighter battles the 6-5 Fire burning through the Chinese Camp community of Tuolumne County, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A state appeals court is being asked to dismiss felony voter misconduct charges against an Alaska resident born in American Samoa, one of numerous cases that have drawn attention to the complex citizenship status of people born in the U.S. territory.

In arguments Thursday, attorneys for Tupe Smith plan to ask the Alaska Court of Appeals in Anchorage to reverse a lower court's decision that let stand the indictment brought against her. Her supporters say she made an innocent mistake that does not merit charges, but the state contends Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship.

Prosecutors also have brought charges against 10 other people from American Samoa in the small Alaska community of Whittier, including Smith’s husband and her mother-in-law. American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where residents are not automatically granted citizenship by being born on American soil and instead are considered U.S. nationals. Paths to citizenship exist, such as naturalization, though that process can be expensive and cumbersome.

American Samoans can serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports and vote in elections in American Samoa, but they cannot hold public office in the U.S. or participate in most U.S. elections.

About 25 people gathered on a snowy street outside the courthouse before Thursday's hearing to support Smith. One woman, Fran Seager of Palmer, held a sign that said, “Support our Samoans. They are US nationals.”

Smith's husband, Michael Pese, thanked the American Samoa community in the Anchorage area. “If it wasn’t for you guys, I wouldn’t be strong enough to face this head on,” he said.

State Sen. Forrest Dunbar, a Democrat who attended the rally, said the Alaska Department of Law has limited resources.

“We should be going after people who are genuine criminals, who are violent criminals, or at least have the intent to deceive,” he said. “I do not think it is a good use of our limited state resources to go after these hardworking, taxpaying Alaskans who are not criminals.”

Smith was arrested after winning election to a regional school board in 2023. She said she relied on erroneous information from local election officials when she identified herself as a U.S. citizen on voter registration forms.

In a court filing in 2024, one of her previous attorneys said that when Smith answered questions from the Alaska state trooper who arrested her, she said she was aware that she could not vote in presidential elections but was “unaware of any other restrictions on her ability to vote.”

Smith said she marks herself as a U.S. national on paperwork. But when there was no such option on voter registration forms, she was told by city representatives that it was appropriate to mark U.S. citizen, according to the filing.

Smith “exercised what she believed was her right to vote in a local election. She did so without any intent to mislead or deceive anyone,” her current attorneys said in a filing in September. “Her belief that U.S. nationals may vote in local elections, which was supported by advice from City of Whittier election officials, was simply mistaken.”

The state has said Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship. Prosecutors pointed to the language on the voter application forms she filled out in 2020 and 2022, which explicitly said that if the applicant was not at least 18 years old and a U.S. citizen, “do not complete this form, as you are not eligible to vote.”

The counts Smith was indicted on “did not have anything to do with her belief in her ability to vote in certain elections; rather they concerned the straightforward question of whether or not Smith intentionally and falsely swore she was a United States citizen,” Kayla Doyle, an assistant attorney general, said in court filings last year.

One of Smith's attorneys, Neil Weare, co-founder of the Washington-based Right to Democracy Project, said by email last week that if the appeals court lets stand the indictment, Alaska will be “the only state to our knowledge with such a low bar for felony voter fraud.”

Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.

Michael Pese and his wife, Tupe Smith, stand outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

Michael Pese, left, his wife, Tupe Smith, and their son Maximus pose for a photo outside the Boney Courthouse in Anchorage, Alaska, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, ahead of the Alaska Court of Appeals hearing a challenge to the voter fraud case brought against her by the state. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen)

FILE - Tupe Smith poses for a photo outside the school in Whittier, Alaska, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)