Hundreds of residents in the Big Sur region of California have been ordered to leave their premises due to a wildfire that started late Friday.

After the wildfire erupted in the Palo Colorado canyon, it spread to more than 250 acres (almost 101 hectares), and then, according to local news reports, Monterey County authorities ordered the evacuations. The Colorado Fire was the name given to the wildfire that raged across Colorado.

According to reports from the area, officials closed Highway 1 in both directions between Andrew Molera State Park and Carmel-by-the-Sea. At a middle school, the American Red Cross was in the process of setting up a shelter.

According to the NWS, a wind alert had been issued for the Bay Area on Friday night into Saturday morning, while meteorologists predicted that severe gusts would be more probable at higher altitudes.