Fire crews have controlled a fire that broke out Thursday afternoon in a vacant commercial building in downtown Santa Barbara.
The two-alarm blaze was reported shortly after noon at 530 Chapala Street, which formerly housed Montecito Motors, according to Acting Fire Chief Pat McElroy of the Santa Barbara Fire Department.
Flames were shooting through the roof of the building when firefighters arrived on scene, McElroy said.
They made an “aggressive interior attack” on the blaze, and were able to contain the flames to the existing building, McElroy said.
The fire was controlled within about 20 minutes, but crews remained on scene doing mop-up and ventilating the building.
Several streets were closed in the area, although some were later reopened.
Cause of the fire remained under investigation, McElroy said.
No injuries were reported.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.


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