Vicksburg firefighters spray water on a hillside west of the Monroe Street bridge over Kansas City Southern Railway tracks Monday. (The Vicksburg Post/MELANIE DUNCAN)

[04/03/01] Downtown Vicksburg was filled with smoke Monday afternoon as a brush fire scorched a kudzu-covered hillside just west of the Monroe Street bridge over Kansas City Southern Railway tracks.

The fire was reported at about 1 p.m. after sparks ignited the grass near where KCS employees were working with a rail saw to repair lines, KCS spokesman Doniele Kain said.

No one was injured.

Vicksburg Police Patrolman Greg Kurtz, who was directing traffic around road work on nearby Washington Street, said he saw the smoke and, by the time he arrived on Short Walnut Street off Belmont Street, he saw flames overtaking the hillside.

“It was moving pretty fast toward the houses,” Kurtz said.

With wind gusting, the flames quickly spread and were inching toward a white wood-frame home on Short Walnut before fireman were able to stem the flames.

Vicksburg firefighters worked for about 45 minutes to extinguish the flames and douse hot spots.

Lt. Rose Shaifer of the Vicksburg Fire Department said she talked with KCS employees working on the tracks.

“They said they would try to be more cautious when using their machinery,” Shaifer said.

Rail workers have been in the area for about a month replacing tracks along the two-mile stretch between the Monroe Street overpass and the Washington Street tunnel, Kain said.

A little more than two years ago a fire burned almost the same area when a contractor set a fire to burn debris.

That fire, which was in the same hollow between West Pine and Belmont streets, destroyed the old city bus barn and storage sheds behind homes on Belmont and caused several residents to be evacuated.