Fire crews extinguish grass fire near Los Gatos highway

Traffic is snarled in Los Gatos area after Santa Clara County fire crews swiftly contained a grass fire along State Route 17.

LOS GATOS — Santa Clara County fire crews swiftly contained a grass fire in Los Gatos on Sunday, but not before a lane of State Route 17 was closed in the vicinity.

The California Highway Patrol arrived at roughly 2:24 p.m. on the scene of the grass fire, which affected northbound Highway 17 traffic between Lark Avenue and State Route 9, according to a CHP sig alert log.

When the CHP unit arrived on the scene, the patrol unit observed “smoke and flames” on the side of the freeway, the CHP log stated.

By 2:49 p.m., one lane on northbound Highway 17 was closed between Lark Avenue and Highway 9. The blaze was across the freeway from Vasona Park.

“We had to close one lane while fire personnel and equipment were on scene,” Louisa Rapport, a spokeswoman and information specialist for the Santa Clara County Fire Department said Sunday.

By 2:50 p.m., Santa Clara County fire dispatchers, as well as an eyewitness, reported that the fire had been put out.

“That fire is out,” a dispatcher said. “It’s contained, it’s done and over with.”

Multiple public safety reports said that traffic was snarled on Highway 17 in the area near the location of the grass fire.

About one-eighth of an acre burned in the blaze, county fire officials estimated.

“Two structures in the vicinity were threatened,” Rapport said. “But we were able to contain the fire before it spread.”