Pipa Escalante/KUCB

Public safety is still investigating the cause of a rapidly-spreading tundra fire that broke out along the S-curves this weekend. KUCB's Lauren Rosenthal reports.

The Ounalashka Corporation owns the land that caught on fire, just before 5 p.m. Saturday. Despite its proximity to Dutch Harbor post office and Gas 'n' Go, on Airport Beach Road, the blaze didn't jump to any nearby structures.

Still, gas station manager Alejandro Tungul shut down his pumps as a precaution.

Tungul: "You know, the flames -- when it burns on that tundra, it flies around, and with that high-octane gas, it can get caught on fire pretty quick."

Fire chief Abner Hoage says the burned area is just over an acre of tundra and wild grass. At the scene on Saturday, Hoage said the fire may have started small, but wind conditions were right for it to spread:

Hoage: "Predominately westerly kind of direction, and just steady – kind of like what you can feel right here. Especially once you get up to the top, it’s just steady. It gets into the tundra – and this is all really dry. And it’ll just creep along and keep moving."

[Sound of wind and footsteps through brush]

Rick Miller, the Ounalashka Corporation's CEO, headed down to Airport Beach Road from his office to survey the damage. He said that the corporation didn't appear have anything stored on the part of the lot that burned.

Miller: "The first protocol is to stand back and let the fire department do their job. And then, we’ll assess it, see what happened."

The emergency response went smoothly, with volunteers rotating out to prevent exhaustion or dehydration. For some fire and rescue personnel, though, the fire threw a wrench into weekend plans.

At least one responder had to rush away to see their child off at Unalaska City School’s graduation ceremony. Twenty-nine students graduated at the event, which started at 7 p.m. Saturday.