As San Diego County endured another day of hot, dry conditions and persistent wildfires, a small, new brush fire sparked in Alpine, but was quickly knocked down by crews.
According to Cal Fire’s Nick Schuler, the fire began around noon in an empty field near a backyard and an apartment building near the 1400 block of Marshall Road in the East County community.
Schuler said some structures were threatened by the fire.
Alert residents and some nearby painters quickly noticed the fire and alerted authorities. Residents of the nearby apartment building -- including a firefighter home sick from work -- grabbed fire extinguishers and began tackling the blaze while crews arrived on scene.
Crews were able to quickly contain the fire and stop it from spreading to any nearby homes.
A woman who owns a nearby property said she's grateful to firefighters for arriving quickly and putting out the blaze before it spread. She said she and her husband plan to cut the weeds and brush around her building this weekend to create defensible space.
NBC 7 meteorologist Whitney Southwick said the temperature was 92 degrees in Alpine as of noon, with humidity at 5 percent and winds out of the west northwest gusting from 3 to 9 mph.
