A large number of firefighters and five aircraft battled a quick-spreading brushfire, sparked by a motorcycle, in the hills east of Dulzura today, and stopped the spread at 27 acres.
No structures were damaged or threatened by the fire, which was burning east of the historic Clark Ranch about 45 miles east of San Diego.
Highway 94 was closed between Summit Road, juts east of Barrett Junction, to the state Route 188 cutoff to Tecate at the beginning of the fire, but one lane has opened to serve traffic in both directions.
The fire broke out at about 1:15 p.m. when a motorcycle's hot underside ignited brush after leaving the paved roadway. The motorcyclist was not injured, said Cal Fire spokesman Kendall Bortisser.
First reported at three acres, it grew to 10 acres within about a half hour, according to firefighters, then was halted at 27 acres by 3:15 p.m.
Dispatchers sent 15 engines, a bulldozer, three hand crews, two water tenders, two air tankers, two helicopters and one fixed-wing observation plane.
The fire had surrounded -- but not damaged --the City of San Diego's old Dulzura flume, Bortisser said. It carries water from Barrett Lake to the Sweetwater Reservoir near Chula Vista, which was San Diego's sole municipal water supply in the first part of the 20th Century.
