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.

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

The Monterey County Sheriff's Office issued evacuation orders Thursday evening after a fire broke out at a Moss Landing battery facility that closed State Route 1.