PORT TOWNSEND — A passing vehicle is believed to have caused five small brush fires just south of the intersection of Old Fort Townsend Road and state Highway 20 on Thursday afternoon.
Both lanes of traffic on Highway 20 were completely blocked for about 50 minutes while the fires were put out.
Firefighters extinguished the fires — which burned a strip roughly 100 yards long beside the highway — before they reached a nearby house, said Bill Beezley, East Jefferson Fire-Rescue spokesman.
Firefighters were alerted to the fires at 1:17 p.m. after passers-by called 9-1-1.
They found the fires burning along the east side of the highway and state Department of Transportation road crew members spraying the fire with water from a tank on their vehicle.
Firefighters had the fires knocked down within 10 minutes and spent the next hour overhauling the sites to make sure the fires were completely extinguished.
Based on the five distinct burn spots in a row along the highway, fire investigators believe a passing vehicle may have shot sparks which caught the dry grass and brush on fire, Beezley said.
Fifteen firefighters from East Jefferson Fire-Rescue and Port Ludlow Fire & Rescue fought the fires.
