LIVERMORE, Calif. (AP) -- A wind-blown wildfire near Livermore grew to more than 10,000 acres early Wednesday but burned past a nuclear weapons laboratory and some 500 homes without causing major damage, authorities said.
The fire, which began around 4:30 p.m. Tuesday and quickly spread through rolling grasslands in the windy Altamont Pass, was estimated at 10,250 acres Wednesday and was 60 percent contained, said Chopper Snyder, a California Department of Forestry dispatcher. Full containment was expected at 8 a.m., he said.
''They're starting to make some headway on this thing,'' Snyder said.
Two outbuildings were destroyed by flames, but the blaze left the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory untouched after an initial scare, he said. No homes were threatened early Wednesday and no injuries were reported, Snyder said.
''The Altamont Pass is of course infamous for that...the high winds,'' said Bill Morrison, an assistant chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The fire ''grew from a small spot alongside the road to 3000 acres in about an hour.''
The fast-moving fire had prompted officials at the nuclear laboratory to declare an operational emergency, allowing agencies from outside the lab to come in and help protect an experimental test site at the facility.
The fire's cause was under investigation.
