One of the world's largest battery storage facilities is being consumed by flames near San Francisco on Friday, and officials say the best solution is to let the factory continue to burn, even as it releases toxic fumes into the air.

People living near a power plant in Central California were ordered to evacuate their homes Thursday night after a fire broke out at the facility, officials said.

Shares of Vistra Energy (NYSE:VST) fell 1.4% in pre-open trading Friday following news of a fire at a battery facility on the site of the company's Moss Landing power plant in Monterey County, California.

A major fire has engulfed Vistra Corp's Moss Landing energy storage facility near San Francisco. Authorities have chosen to let it burn out, despite toxic fumes. No injuries reported, but 40% of the facility is consumed.

Evacuations were lifted Friday night for people near an ongoing fire that erupted Thursday at one of the world’s largest battery storage plants in the northern half of California. Video circulating on social media showed smoke and flames erupting from the Moss Landing Power Plant on Thursday night in the Monterey County community of Moss Landing,

A fire at a major battery-storage plant in Northern California prompted the evacuation of hundreds of nearby residents and the closure of schools and parts of Highway 1 nearby. Residents of the area around the Moss Landing Power Plant in Monterey County were evacuated late Thursday after the fire broke out.