PORT ANGELES – Quick work by neighbors helped save homes from a fast-spreading brush fire west of Port Angeles.

Reports came in yesterday afternoon from a resident on N. S’Klallam Drive of loud noises and the smell of smoke. Soon, wind was driving a brush fire across a vacant field toward trees and homes on the Lower Elwha Reservation.

The neighbors carried buckets of water and stretched garden hoses from nearby homes to quell the fire. Clallam 2 Fire Rescue responded and were able to get the flames out before any homes were damaged.

According to firefighters, one of the neighbors saw juveniles running from the area and it appeared that they had been playing with fireworks, which ignited dry grass and spread to a lot across the street pushed by light winds from the west.

Lower Elwha Police officers on the scene spoke to the two children involved who admitted to starting the fire.