SAN FRANCISCO — California firefighters, aided by aircraft, battled a wind-driven wildfire that started Saturday and continued to burn into Sunday morning in an area spanning the San Francisco Bay Area and central California, authorities said.
The Corral Fire started Saturday afternoon near the city of Tracy, 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of San Francisco, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the city of Livermore, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. , or Cal Fire.
Dark clouds of smoke rose high into the sky over the fire area, made up mostly of grassy hills, where strong winds were expected to continue through the night.
On Saturday night, Cal Fire updated the fire’s size to 17.2 square miles (44.5 square kilometers) with 13% contained, which increased from a previous report of 15.6 square miles (40.4 kilometers). squares).
Interstate 580, which connects the San Francisco Bay Area to San Joaquin County in central California, was closed in both directions from Corral Hollow Road to Interstate 5 due to a lack of visibility due to smoke, the California Department of Transportation in a statement.
Cal Fire Santa Clara Unit Chief Baraka Carter said two firefighters were injured, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services issued an evacuation order, pinpointing the fire to an area east of Interstate 580. Residents between Corral Hollow Road and Tracy Boulevard were ordered to leave their homes, with residents south of Tracy Boulevard instructed to prepare for evacuation.
An evacuation update included areas west of the California Aqueduct, south of Corral Hollow Creek, west of Alameda County and south of Stanislaus County. A temporary evacuation point has been established at the Larch Clover Community Center in Tracy, the county emergency services office said on its website.
The fire occurred near Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Site 300, southwest of Tracy, Cal Fire said in a social media post Saturday night.
Lawrence Livermore is a research and development institution focused primarily on the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Site 300, 15 miles (24 kilometers) east of the main laboratory facility, supports “the development of explosive materials as well as hydrodynamic testing and diagnostics,” according to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory website.
“Here, our researchers can safely formulate, manufacture, and test high-explosive assemblies to evaluate the performance of non-nuclear weapon prototypes and components,” the website says about Site 300.
The wildfire did not pose a threat to any laboratory facilities or operations and the fire moved away from the site, Lawrence Livermore spokesman Paul Rhien said in a statement to The Associated Press on Sunday morning.
“We have been working closely with Cal Fire, Alameda County Fire Dept. and other emergency services partners throughout the night,” Rhien said. “As a precaution, we activated our emergency operations center to monitor the situation over the weekend.”
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