Evacuation and shelter-in-place orders remained in effect for residents and businesses around a tank fire sparked by lightning that sent a plume of smoke over Lake Charles, Louisiana, on Saturday.

Late evening, Louisiana State Police determined that lightning was the cause of a single tank fire at the Calcasieu Refining Co. tank farm in Lake Charles shortly before 2 p.m., according to the department.

The company refines crude oil, operates a pipeline and operates a barge transfer facility for petroleum products.

No injuries have been reported. The refinery did not return phone calls seeking comment.

Evacuations were ordered Saturday due to a fire at the Calcasieu Refining Co. near Lake Charles, La. Louisiana State Police

Mandatory evacuations were in effect for those within 1.5 miles of the tank farm. The outer limits of a shelter-in-place order have been reduced from 5 miles to 3 miles, according to the Lake Charles Fire Department.

The fire was still burning around 10 p.m. local time, state police said.

Dick Gremillion, director of the Calcasieu Parish Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, said about 70 residents of assisted living facilities were among those displaced, NBC affiliate KPLC of Lake Charles reported.

A shelter has been opened at Burton Coliseum for people who have to evacuate, Gremillion told the station.

Lightning streaked across the region as an unstable air front moved east, bringing severe thunderstorms, hail and the threat of flash flooding, according to the National Weather Service on Saturday.

In an earlier statement, the fire department described the fire as an «oil tank fire.»

Port director Ricky Self told KPLC the grounds were home to another fire on Thursday that may have started in an area where motor oil for company vehicles was stored.

It was not clear if the fires were related.