Edgartown firefighters were able to contain a quickly moving brush fire in Katama Friday morning March 21 despite strongly gusting winds that reached as high as 25 miles per hour and fanned the flames.

Fire chief Peter Shemeth said firefighters used a vehicle called a brush breaker, which is capable of traversing rough terrain, to get close to the flames and knock them down. Firefighters extinguished the fire in about half an hour, he said, and were able to contain the blaze before it spread to the fields owned by the FARM Institute or residential areas.

The fire destroyed approximately three-quarters of brush between Faulkner Drive and Harbor Bay Road.

Chief Shemeth said the fire was likely started by an errant cigarette butt thrown along the roadside.