A brush fire blackened about three open acres in a rural Valley Center-area neighborhood Wednesday, advancing perilously close to several homes but causing no structural damage before firefighters could subdue the flames.
The blaze erupted for unknown reasons near the intersection of Lilac and Old Castle roads at about 1 p.m., according to Cal Fire.
As ground crews and personnel aboard air tankers and water-dropping helicopters battled the flames amid temperatures in the high 80s to low 90s, authorities cleared residents out of a pair of homes near the forward edge of the blaze, said Frank LoCoco, a fire captain with the state agency.
Firefighters were able to halt the spread of the flames — which moved to within about 100 feet of one of the two residences — by 2:45 p.m., LoCoco said.
One crew member was taken to a hospital for treatment of minor trauma suffered while working to corral the blaze. The nature of the firefighter’s injury was not immediately clear, the fire captain said.