Our citizens are very alarmed,” one Morro Bay resident said, after the fire along Monterey Bay forced 1,200 people to evacuate.

MOSS LANDING — Flames and smoke in the community of Moss Landing and the Elkhorn Slough area in northern Monterey County largely were just smoldering late Friday morning following a major fire at a battery storage plant that brought evacuations, closing Highway 1.

The dramatic fire at the the Vistra battery storage plant, one of the world’s largest, caused the evacuation of 1,200 people in Northern Monterey County, closed Highway 1 and sent large clouds of toxic black smoke billowing from at one of the world’s largest battery storage plants.