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.

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

A warehouse storing fireworks in California caught fire and exploded Tuesday, sending a fireball into the air, launching debris, and causing pyrotechnics to detonate above the site, according to offic