A day after hundreds of College Area and Talmadge residents fled as fast-moving fire raged by their homes, many spent time Friday relieved that disaster was averted, praising firefighters but raising long-held concerns about brush clearance in canyons and evacuation traffic jams.

The blaze, which burned around 40 acres, was 80% contained by Friday afternoon, according to the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. Three engine companies were slated to stay through the night to watch for flare-ups. The remainder of the line around the fire was to be drawn Saturday. Montezuma Road between Collwood Boulevard and Fairmount Avenue remained closed.

Evacuation orders Thursday stretched across a wide swath of central San Diego, encompassing large parts of Talmadge, the College Area, Kensington and Normal Heights. All orders were lifted Thursday night, and power was restored to those neighborhoods, fire officials reported.

The blaze, which started around 1:40 p.m. off Montezuma east of Fairmount, damaged six homes — mostly charred fences, broken windows and the like, officials said. The fire burned quickly through canyons dense with brush and palm trees and raced toward homes at the top of ridges as about 300 firefighters fought to stop its march.

A single call of a brush fire alongside Montezuma near Fairmount Avenue immediately drew the standard initial response of two engines but was quickly upgraded as more 911 calls started pouring in. Fire-Rescue Assistant Chief Dan Eddy credited Engine 17 Capt. Dallas Higgins, the first captain on the scene, for recognizing the explosive potential of the fire and immediately asking Cal Fire to drop fire retardant — fast action when every moment counted.

Higgins — “a senior captain, very good at his job” — is stationed in the area and knew as soon as he arrived “that this was going to be ripping pretty quickly,” Eddy said. He said the first battalion chief on scene also ordered a larger attack than usual.

“The response that came was phenomenal,” Eddy said. “We had engines from all over San Diego County, and because that trigger was pulled very quickly to start getting those resources going, we were able to get a lot of individuals on the fire.”

Eddy said he was driving up Interstate 15 when he heard the fire radio traffic, looked in his rearview mirror, saw the fire and turned around. He arrived maybe five minutes into the incident.

“I’ll be dead honest with you … I was expecting us to lose multiple homes with the speed that that fire was going, the amount of heat that it had behind it, and it had the wind direction pushing it,” Eddy said.

He feared 20 homes might be destroyed. Although six sustained a bit of damage, none were lost. The assistant chief pointed to the “phenomenal job” of crews on the ground. The retardant drop also helped “immensely,” slowing the fire as it chewed through brush.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The smell of smoke was still palpable in the area Friday morning. Residents in Talmadge said they were thankful for the firefighters who stayed in their neighborhood overnight to contain the fire. Some homes off Lucille Drive lost fences to the blaze.

Several people pointed to concerns that the heavy brush along Montezuma was a fire danger and said their requests to clear it went nowhere.

Julie Hamilton, president of the College Area Community Council, said the council had alerted San Diego officials about clearing the canyons. She said area residents “have been raising concerns about homeless encampments lighting fires and clearing brush, especially those palm trees. You have two communities immediately uphill of these palm trees who have repeatedly asked the city, ‘How do we get rid of them?”

A quick search of the city’s NextRequest website turned up a request filed in July in which someone asked who was responsible for brush abatement of the property running south along Montezuma. The requestor, whose name was not available, alleged that the parcel “is seriously overgrown and is used as a camping spot by homeless individuals, and as such represents a clear threat to the safety of neighboring residents.”

It’s not clear where the fire started, whether on public or private property. Questions regarding brush management in the area could not be immediately answered late Friday.

San Diego spokesperson Matt Hoffman said Friday the city “has addressed unsafe encampments in this area and will continue working with residents and private property owners to do so.” But, he said, “a significant portion of property in this area is privately owned.”

“The City cannot enter private property to remove waste or encampments. Code officers have been and will continue communicating with property owners to address concerns, and if needed, issue citations to ensure compliance,” he said.

Hamilton, the community council president, praised the firefighters and pointed to “a silver lining”: the palm trees are gone.

Schools in the area monitored air quality Friday and asked to limit outdoor activities if warranted, according to a letter from San Diego Unified School District Interim Superintendent Fabiola Bagula. She thanked firefighters, first responders and school staff who helped evacuate students from Hardy Elementary to Viejas Arena on Thursday.

Katie Nieri shared praise for firefighters and Hardy Elementary staff but was floored at the gridlock — it took her an hour and 15 minutes to go about a mile as she was trying to evacuate. She said neighbors with children at Hardy had to abandon their cars and walk to retrieve their kids. She was frustrated that San Diego State University did not cancel classes to help clear the streets as residents tried to flee.

Hamilton also criticized the evacuation, noting that residents just west of the school had limited egress and it took people hours to inch out through the campus.

Officials with the University Police Department issued a statement Friday that said while there was no fire threat to the school, it issued emergency notifications encouraging people to avoid the area. Officials added that “canceling classes and/or activities would have added to traffic congestion and delays with students, faculty and staff leaving the campus at the same time following the announcement of such a decision.”

Staff writer Kristina Davis contributed to this report.