A fast-moving vegetation fire sparked by burning palm trees threatened part of central Spring Valley on Friday afternoon before firefighters stopped its advance at about three acres.
The fire was reported around 1 p.m. at the busy intersection of Sweetwater Road and Jamacha Boulevard, where two palm trees had caught fire. Strong winds quickly blew embers across the roadway, igniting vegetation on both sides and forcing crews to call a full vegetation response with air support.
Although fixed-wing aircraft were initially ordered, they were later canceled in favor of a water-dropping helicopter, which made targeted drops while ground crews from CAL FIRE and San Miguel Fire & Rescue worked to establish containment lines.
Within about an hour, firefighters had stopped the forward spread of the fire at three acres. Crews remain in the area to strengthen containment and extinguish hot spots.
