AP SAN FRANCISCO — Authorities reported that on Saturday, a wind-driven wildfire that was encroaching on central California and the San Francisco Bay Area was being fought by California firefighters with the assistance of airplanes.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, the Corral Fire started on Saturday close to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the city of Livermore and the Tracy, which is 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of San Francisco.
Over the fire region, which was primarily made up of grassy hills, dark plumes of smoke rose far into the sky, indicating that strong winds would persist throughout the night.
Cal Fire revised the area of the fire late on Saturday, increasing it from an earlier report of 13.7 square miles (35.4 square kilometers) to 15.6 square miles (40.4 square kilometers) with 13% contained.
The smoke made it difficult to see, so the California Department of Transportation announced in a statement that Interstate 580, which runs across central California and connects the San Francisco Bay Area to San Joaquin County, was blocked in both directions from Corral Hollow Road to Interstate 5.
According to Baraka Carter, the chief of Cal Fire Santa Clara Unit, two firefighters were hurt, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.
The wildfire was located east of Interstate 580, according to the San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services, which also issued an evacuation order.
Homeowners south of Tracy Boulevard were advised to prepare for an evacuation, while those living between Corral Hollow Road and Tracy Boulevard were instructed to leave their houses.
Areas south of Corral Hollow Creek, west of the California Aqueduct, west to Alameda County, and south to Stanislaus County were included in an evacuation update.
According to information on the county emergency services office’s website, a temporary evacuation station has been established at Tracy’s Larch Clover Community Center.
In a late-Saturday social media post, Cal Fire claimed that the blaze was located southwest of Tracy, close to the Lawrence Livermore laboratory’s Site 300.
Research and development center Lawrence Livermore is largely concerned with the United States’ nuclear weapons arsenal.
According to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory website, “development of explosive materials as well as hydrodynamic testing and diagnostics” are supported at Site 300, which is located 15 miles (24 kilometers) east of the laboratory’s main installation.
According to the website, Site 300 is “where our researchers can safely formulate, fabricate, and test high-explosive assemblies to assess the performance of nonnuclear weapon prototypes and components.”