Wild land blaze quickly knocked down

Watsonville firefighter Mike Elmasu chases down hot spots in a wild land blaze on the 900 block of Main Street Friday. Around 12:40 p.m. firefighters got a call about a large column of white and gray smoke emanating from a wooded area behind a clutch of businesses at Main Street and Auto Center Drive. The fire broke out atop a hillside where homeless people commonly dwell, with mountains of trash, shopping carts, buckets, boxes, bottles, cans and junk strewn about. Firefighters were able to quash the smokey fire within 15 minutes. The incident is under investigation.