OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Fire officials in the San Francisco Bay Area say a grass fire is threatening several homes and they have ordered evacuations.
The East Contra Costa Fire Protection District spokesman Steve Aubert says the fire in unincorporated Oakley is being driven by wind and that all of its fire engines are fighting the blaze in the community 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of San Francisco.
The fire broke out shortly after noon in the 5000 block of Sellers Avenue.
He says residents of about 50 homes have been ordered to leave. As of 1:40 p.m. the fire was burning out of control.
Aubert says the blaze has destroyed two outbuildings and that additional fire engines and crews are on their way. Impacts from the fire are expected in Oakley, Brentwood, Knightsen and Discovery Bay. Currently, impacts include smoky skies, the smell of smoke and localized elevated particle pollution.
Television images show a structure burned to the ground as the blaze burns through empty, dry fields.
The blaze is burning near several greenhouses and homes.
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