Fire investigators with the California Department of Forestry
said they have not determined what started a fast-moving brush fire
that destroyed nearly 60 acres Friday afternoon.
Fire investigators with the California Department of Forestry said they have not determined what started a fast-moving brush fire that destroyed nearly 60 acres Friday afternoon.
Investigators said all they know for sure is that the fire along Frazier Lake Road was started on the roadside. Whether the fire was intentionally started or accidentally started by an absent-minded motorist flicking a cigarette but into the dry kindling like grasses is still uncertain.
It took more than a dozen CDF firefighters on five engines from San Benito and Santa Clara counties using a combination of hand tools, fire hoses and helicopters dropping hundreds of gallons of water from the air to fight the fast-moving brush fire that charred a total of nearly 60 acres of grassland along the eastern side of Frazier Lake Road.
The fire, which covered the northern section of the county with a large plume of light brown smoke, started at about 4:15 p.m. on Friday just south of the San Benito-Santa Clara county line.
The fire forced the closure of northbound Frazier Lake Road so that fire fighters would have easy and complete access to fight the blaze.
No one was injured in the fire, no homes or major structures were damaged because firefighters cut off the progress of the flames, which were being pushed along by a strong late afternoon breeze.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Anyone with information about the cause of the fire is asked to call CDF at 637-4475 with details.
