A wildfire broke out in Homer on Tuesday evening, quickly swelling to 65 acres and prompting a sweeping response from state and local officials.

The fire broke out at about 5:30 p.m. and was burning through dry grass to the south of Mile 16 East End Road, near Lusky Road, according to the Homer Fire Department.

Although there are not many structures in the area, which is near Kachemak Bay State Park, the fire threatened several structures before the wind changed direction, firefighters said.

No injuries or damage had been reported.

The fire department dispatched a handful of trucks, tankers and a helicopter to the scene, and was being assisted by a crew from the state Division of Forestry.

Though conditions were dry, and the fire was burning dangerously close, officials said the community at the tip of the Kenai Peninsula did not appear to be in imminent peril.

"We're a long ways from Homer here right now," Forestry spokesman Matt Weaver said. "Right now it's in the very early stages."

Residents could still see a thick, gray pillar of smoke billowing into the sky late Tuesday.

At Fritz Creek, Brian Kelly said there were some structures on ridges to the sides of the blaze, but that the fire appeared to be moving in a direction that would spare them.

"It's raging pretty good," he said. "It looks like the wind shifted; it's blowing kind of downhill to the south, towards the bay."

Kelly said he saw aircraft drop four retardant loads onto the fire. That appeared to knock it down some, though the perimeter was still burning strong.

Firefighters said it was fueled by black spruce trees and dried out grass, causing it to swell in size.

By early in the evening, the Forestry Division dispatched smoke jumpers from Fairbanks and had a group of jumpers on the ground in Homer. They were joined by a Forestry helicopter and an initial attack crew flown in from Soldotna, which focuses on stopping fires early, Weaver said.

Three dozers were also on the perimeter plowing through brush, he said. The Pioneer Peak Hotshots were en route from Palmer Tuesday night.

By evening, a tanker from Palmer had dropped a load of retardant on the fire and was headed to Soldotna for a refill. The cause of the fire, which had not been contained and continued to burn uncontrolled, was not known Tuesday night.

The fire was burning about 10 miles east of Homer, with winds blowing to the south-southeast at 7 mph, Weaver said.

Firefighters expect to be on scene for two or three days.

The area is not far from the location torched in the dangerous Caribou Hills fire in June 2007. Sparks thrown from a tool grinder ignited that blaze, which blackened more than 55,000 acres and destroyed 53 cabins and 79 outbuildings.

Fanned by high winds and low humidity, the Caribou Hills fire raged for more than two weeks as more than 500 firefighters from across the country and Canada helped battle the blaze.

This fire is burning in similar conditions -- bone dry grass and black spruce -- and officials were concerned about it fanning up because the brush had not yet gotten green for the season.

"Our goal is to try to hold every fire down to 10 acres or less, and this one blew up pretty fast, and so they're throwing some resources at it," Weaver said.

Find James Halpin online at adn.com/contact/jhalpin or call him at 257-4589.

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