A two-alarm brush fire briefly threatened structures and prompted evacuation orders Wednesday afternoon in the Santa Ynez Valley, but the firefighting response kept the blaze to a couple of acres.
At approximately 1 p.m., personnel from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department responded to the report of a fire in the 1200 block of Dove Meadow Road in Santa Ynez.
Authorities called for evacuation of homes within 2 miles of the fire which was reportedly within a few feet of at least one structure, but no evacuations were needed.
The fire burned in a field that recently had been mowed, “so that helped tremendously,” county fire spokesman Mike Eliason said.
The county Air Support Unit Firehawk helicopter and at least one air tanker were en route to help battle the fire from above.
However, the tanker and bulldozer crews were canceled before arrival as the first firefighters and the Firehawk quickly attacked the blaze.
The Quail Fire reportedly had burned approximately 2 acres, according to firefighters.
By 1:30 p.m., the incident commander had canceled the second alarm and evacuations.
Less than an hour after responding to the incident, firefighters said they had stopped the fire’s forward progress.
Quail Valley Road was briefly closed from Highway 246 to Deer Trail Lane during the firefighting response, according to the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office.
This was the latest of several small blazes firefighters have battled this week in the county.
Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.
— Noozhawk North County editor Janene Scully can be reached at jscully@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
