ESPARTO, Calif. — Seven people were missing Wednesday following an explosion at a fireworks warehouse in rural Northern California that caused a massive fire that spread to farm fields and forced evacuations in the surrounding community, authorities said.

By Steve Gorman (Reuters) -Seven people were missing after a fire and powerful explosion leveled a commercial fireworks facility in rural northern California, authorities said on Wednesday. Aerial footage from local news media showed the large warehouse-like building blown to pieces Tuesday evening in an enormous,

The blast caused several spot fires and scattered large pieces of debris across a wide area, authorities said. The cause is under investigation.