Neighborhoods south and west of Tracy were ordered to evacuate after a wind-whipped wildfire jumped to nearly 9,000 acres and closed part of Interstate Highway 580 on Saturday.
Residents east of Interstate 580 between Corral Hollow Road and South Tracy Boulevard were the first told to leave by the San Joaquin County Office of Emergency Services.
The evacuations were expanded to those living west of the California Aqueduct, west to Alameda County and south to Stanislaus County, the office said in social media posts.
The Coral fire that began east of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Site 300 closed Interstate 580 from Corral Hollow Road to Interstate 5 in both directions, Caltrans said on social media.
Two Alameda County firefighters were taken to local hospitals for treatment of minor to moderate burns, said Cheryl Hurd, a spokesperson for the department.
Winds in the hills west of Tracy were 20 to 25 mph gusting to 43 mph, said Dylan Flynn, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Monterey. The wind was expected to remain elevated until after midnight, he said.
The blaze, first reported at 2:39 p.m., was about 30 acres by 4:45 p.m. It jumped to 8,800 acres, with 10% contained, as of 8:52 p.m., Cal Fire said on its website.
The cause of the fire wasn’t immediately known, Hurd said.
Site 300, covering 7,000 acres about 15 miles east of Lawrence Livermore’s main site, is part of the laboratory’s nuclear weapons stockpile stewardship program, according to its website.
The facility assesses the operation of non-nuclear weapon components through hydrodynamic testing and tests new conventional explosives for use as part of the nuclear stockpile, the laboratory said.