A wildfire charred several dozen open acres in the far southern reaches of San Diego County on Tuesday afternoon before ground and airborne crews were able to gain control of the flames.
The blaze erupted for unknown reasons about 2 p.m. in an area known as Tin Can Canyon, just north of the U.S.-Mexico line and roughly two miles east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, according to Cal Fire.
It took about an hour for ground crews and personnel aboard air tankers and water-dropping helicopters to halt the spread of the flames, which blackened an estimated 28 acres but posed no structural threats, said Issac Sanchez, a fire captain with the state agency.
The cause of the non-injury fire — which burned in hilly, grassy terrain “a few feet” from the international border, according to Sanchez — was under investigation.
Crews had the smoldering burn area about 50 percent contained as of late afternoon, Cal Fire reported.