Vegetation fire near Chualar River bottom

A car sparked a fire in Chualar burning three acres, Sunday afternoon.

It started just after 5 p.m., near Chualar River Bridge and River Road. The car’s exhaust on the grass is the suspected cause. No one was inside the car when crews arrived.

The fire burned vegetation on private property, and was spread by strong winds and the heat from the car’s tires and gasoline. The only damaged structures were fencing, which fire crews had to cut.

The Monterey County Regional Fire District and Cal Fire responded to the scene.

“We do have a number of resources committed to the fires in Mendocino and in the Shasta area, so we are very fortunate to catch this in the smaller acreage so we can get resource available for other potential starts,” Monterey County Regional Fire District Chief Michael Urquides, said.

Urquides says the fire district has 11 firefighters sent up north to help with the historically large fires burning there. Those crews rotate every two weeks. He says Monterey County, as a whole, has about 30 firefighters sent there.