Firefighters: Brush fire easily could have threatened homes

Firefighters said homes could have been threatened Wednesday afternoon if they hadn’t moved quickly to douse a small brush fire in the Indian Trail area. The fire was reported at 3:53 p.m., about 90 minutes before winds gusted to nearly 40 mph in the region. More than 30 firefighters using 10 fire rigs rushed to the scene in the 3700 block of West Indian Trail Road. The fire was burning on a half-acre of brush between G and Excell streets and could not be immediately reached. Firefighters positioned themselves at strategic attack points near the steep hillside and stopped the fire from getting into a stand of timber Wednesday afternoon. Fire officials said in a news release that had the fire penetrated into the timber by the time winds increased, the fire could have threatened dozens of homes on the southern bluff of Five Mile Prairie. Crews from the state Department of Natural Resources helped in controlling the fire. There were no injuries.