VISTA — A small brush fire Sunday morning near the pickleball courts at Brengle Terrace Park briefly threatened nearby apartments and led to an evacuation order for more than 100 residents before local crews knocked it down.
Brendan Halley, a battalion chief for the Vista Fire Department, said the fire burned about 1.5 acres of trees and brush on the west side of the park near the 1200 block of Vale Terrace Drive. According to Halley, the amount and type of vegetation in the storm drain where the fire started made the blaze more difficult to extinguish.
“There are stands of eucalyptus there, and some dead pine trees, and it was burning pretty far down in the culvert, so Cal Fire hand crews went down to remove the vegetation so we could get down to the hot spots,” Halley said.
About 15 fire units were on scene to assist in extinguishing the blaze, with Oceanside, San Marcos and North County Fire departments also responding, fire officials said.
The San Diego County Sheriff’s Office ordered the evacuation of apartment buildings just north of the fire on Meadow Lake Drive at about 8 a.m. Vista High School was designated as an evacuation center.
Vista Fire later learned that about 40 people were assisted at Vista High, Halley said.
Witnesses told ABC10 that the fire was first spotted just after 7 a.m.
“Forward progress was stopped within 2 hours,” Halley said. “Units were on scene for about 7 hours, cutting down vegetation and watching for flare-ups.”
No structures were burned, but Halley said some of the apartment buildings may have suffered heat damage from the nearby flames.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation as of Tuesday morning.
