ENCINITAS – A few homes perched at the top of a hill were briefly threatened by a brush fire burning near a shopping center and a golf course Monday afternoon.

A plume of smoke billowed over the blaze soon after it broke out about 1:20 p.m west of Garden View Road near Leucadia Boulevard, below the ridge just west of the Encinitas Ranch Town Center.

Flames came within 200 yards of three or five homes on Lynwood Drive at one point during the fire. Fire engines were sent to the top of the hill to protect the homes.

Firefighters slowed the fire's spread with the help of three water-dropping helicopters and two fire retardant-dropping air tankers. Crews scooped water from a lake in the nearby Encinitas Ranch Golf Course.

The blaze spread to eight to 10 acres in less than two hours.

Encinitas Fire Chief Mark Muir said the fire was 60 to 70 percent contained by 5:30 p.m., with about 10 to 12 acres burned.

The fire was hard to get to because of thick brush, said Mark Muir, an Encinitas fire battalion chief. Ground crews had to cut their way through brush using chain saws and saws, as there were no trails.

Authorities at one point reported that an ambulance was sent after a member of a hand crew was reported injured but it turned out no one was hurt, fire officials said.

Firefighters kept the fire from getting to Garden View Road and from crossing Leucadia Boulevard. The onshore wind helped their efforts, fire officials said.

Crews from CalFire, Encinitas, Carlsbad, Rancho Santa Fe, Solana Beach, and San Diego, among others, took part in the fight.

The cause of the fire is not yet known but Encinitas Fire Marshal Bob Scott said it appears suspect.

“There's no rhyme or reason why the fire started where it did,” he said.

The firefighting efforts forced the closure of Leucadia Boulevard in both directions between Garden View Road and Quail Gardens Drive, and Garden View Drive from Via Cantebria to Leucadia Boulevard. Leucadia, the busier street, was later reopened.

Encinitas resident Tom Theisen, 52, who lives about a quarter mile from where the fire started, said it is pretty area for hiking.

“It was just dry as bone last time I was up there, which was about a week ago,” he said.

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