About three acres in Lake Lagunita burned Friday afternoon when a remote-controlled model airplane crashed and ignited the vegetation in the dry lakebed.

Just after noon, members of a student club were flying their model plane when it crashed about a quarter mile from where the students stood.  The club members tried to extinguish the blaze, but it moved rapidly through the grass. 

Stanford Police and the Palo Alto Fire Department responded to a 911 call and extinguished the fire in less than an hour.  The fire was contained to within the lakebed area.

As a precaution, four nearby student residences being used by summer campers — Narnia, Enchanted Broccoli Forest, Kappa Alpha and Jerry — were evacuated for a short time.

The Dish area in the nearby hills was closed for the remainder of the day as a further precaution.