Corral Fire Force Evacuations Near San Francisco Bay Area

California firefighters, aided by planes, battled a wind-driven forest fire Sunday in an area straddling the San Francisco Bay and central California, authorities said.

The Corral Fire began burning Saturday near the town of Tracy, 60 miles (96 kilometers) east of San Francisco, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the town of Livermore, according to the California Department of Forestry and Conservation against fires, or Cal Fire.

Dark plumes of smoke rose into the sky above the fire zone of mostly grassy hills, where strong winds persisted overnight.

Early Sunday, Cal Fire updated the size of the fire to 17.2 square miles with 13% contained, which increased from a previous report of 13.7 square miles.

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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 poor visibility due to smoke, the California Department of Transportation said in a statement.

The San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services issued an evacuation order, locating the wildfire to an area east of Interstate 580. Residents between Corral Hollow Road and Tracy Boulevard were issued ordered to leave their homes, while residents south of Tracy Boulevard were asked 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 was established at the Larch Clover Community Center in Tracy, the county's office of emergency services said on its website.

The wildfire occurred near Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Site 300, southwest of Tracy, Cal Fire said in a social media post Saturday evening.

Lawrence Livermore is a research and development institution that focuses primarily on the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. Site 300, 15 miles east of the lab's main facility, supports “explosive materials development and 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 Site 300 website states.

The wildfire posed no threat to laboratory facilities or operations and the fire had moved away from the site, Lawrence Livermore spokesman Paul Rhien said in a statement to The Associated Press early Sunday.

“We worked closely with Cal Fire, the Alameda County Fire Department and other emergency service partners throughout the evening,” Rhien said. “As a precautionary measure, we have activated our emergency operations center to monitor the situation throughout the weekend.”