A two-alarm vegetation fire prompted the closure of Drum Canyon Road between Los Alamos and Highway 246 late Wednesday afternoon, but crews quickly worked to corral the blaze.

At approximately 5:35 p.m., personnel from Santa Barbara County Fire Department began responding to the fire in the hills southwest of the Los Alamos Cemetery.

At about 9:15 p.m., crews had stopped the forward progress of the flames, which had blackened about 40 acres.

Containment was reported to be 20%.

Crews were continuing to improve containment lines to fully surround the fire while also working to extinguish hot spots.

Along with crews on the ground, multiple aircraft — air tankers and helicopters — were sent to the incident from the Santa Maria, Paso Robles, Porterville and other airports to help battle the blaze from above, before they released.

Incident commanders said they planned to use Copter 964 from the Santa Barbara County Air Support Unit to conduct night operations at the fire site.

As firefighters began responding to the incident, Alert California cameras showed a large column of smoke quickly growing and rising from the area sparking concern among Los Alamos residents.

The county’s Fourth District Supervisor Bob Nelson, who represents the area, posted on social media in Los Alamos groups that the fire was “burning away from town, and many resources (aircraft and equipment) are being deployed to keep it back.”

Due to the fire and firefighting equipment, Drum Canyon, a narrow route with one lane in each direction, was closed from the community of Los Alamos to Highway 246 between Lompoc and Buellton Wednesday evening.

No structures were damaged and officials did not issue any evacuation warnings or watches.

The cause of the fire remained under investigation late Wednesday.