Firefighters were called to battle a rubbish fire early this morning on a Nimitz Highway median strip under the airport viaduct, an area frequented by homeless.

The alarm was turned in at 3:32 a.m. and the fire was under control by 4:18 a.m. The site of the blaze was the median on the Nimitz Highway and Ahua Street intersection.

No was injured and no was on the median when firefighters arrived. Many of the items that burned were mattresses and other personal items belonging to homeless people who camp in the area.

The eastbound lanes of Nimitz Highway were redirected to Ahua Street for nearly an hour because of the fire. A Jan. 15 fire about a block away at a homeless encampment cut off telephone, Internet or cable TV service to about 25,000 homes and businesses for most of the day.

Fire investigators said the cause of the fire was undetermined.