It took firefighters about a half-hour today to subdue a blaze that tore up a brushy hillside next to Interstate 5 in La Jolla, threatening homes briefly but causing no structural damage.
A burning pickup truck sparked the vegetation fire about 2:30 p.m. on the west side of the freeway, just south of State Route 52, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.
Roughly 50 crew members extinguished the fast-moving flames on the ground and aboard an emergency-services helicopter that made four water drops, SDFRD spokesman Maurice Luque said. The blaze moved through heavy brush and eucalyptus trees, up to the edge of some residential yards at the top of the hill.
"It was burning pretty good," Luque said.
One firefighter was taken to a hospital for evaluation of eye irritation he sustained while helping douse the flames. No other injuries were reported.
