FILLMORE : 7-Acre Fire Snarls Traffic on Freeway

A seven-acre fire along California 126 just east of Fillmore created a massive traffic jam in both directions that lasted beyond rush hour, authorities reported.

“It is a main thoroughfare and it was a Friday,” Ventura County Fire Department spokeswoman Rhonda Cauer said. Traffic backed up for five miles in either direction, and commuters spent up to an hour traversing the affected stretch of highway.

The fire started next to the highway and was first reported shortly after 3 p.m. Firefighters had the blaze extinguished about 90 minutes later.

“It was pretty small,” Cauer said.

But she said a second alarm was called when firefighters feared that the blaze would crest a hill and rage uncontrolled in pastureland.

“It looked like it was going to go over the hill, but they got to it in time,” she said. The cause of the fire was under investigation. No injuries were reported.