By Los Altos Hills

Town Crier Staff Report

Sparks from a high voltage wire that snapped between two electric poles in Los Altos Hills ignited a wildfire near Interstate 280 at 3 p.m., Oct. 16. The blaze burned more than an acre-and-a-half of land, a Santa Clara County Fire spokeswoman said.

The two-alarm fire burned dead weeds on the vacant lot and damaged a neighbor’s fence, she said. There were no reported injuries.

Eleven engines from Los Altos, Woodside and Palo Alto responded to the fire, as well as two water helicopters from the California Department of Forestry, which responds to all wildland fires in the area.

Firefighters contained the blaze in less than 15 minutes, the spokeswoman said.

Ed Radlo’s wife, Patty, spotted the flames on the lot adjacent to her Los Altos Hills home while driving on Interstate 280, he said. Radlo called 911 from his home.

Radlo said he activated as many sprinklers and water hoses as he could, fearing the winds could pick up and spread the fire to surrounding homes.

He said smaller patches of flames erupted from embers about 50 yards from the main fire.

“The fire was about 4 feet high. Some construction workers ran over to the fire and began throwing dirt on it with their shovels,” he said.

PG&E turned off power in the area for about four hours while firefighters searched for hot spots.

Radlo said last week’s blaze was the third fire on his property since 1996. The other two were started by a burining car on 280 and by a gardener using a weed whacker on dry weeds, he said.