The residents of a Westside apartment have two dogs to thank for alerting them to a fire that broke out early Monday, according to the Santa Barbara City Fire Department.
The blaze was reported at about 6:15 a.m. in the 1800 block of San Pascual Street, said fire Battalion Chief Robert Mercado.
Firefighters arrived to find smoke coming from the second-story apartment, and traced the source to a couch that had caught on fire, Mercado said.
Crews were able to quickly knock down the fire and remove the smoldering couch from the unit via a balcony, he said.
Two people were at home at the time, and both escaped without injury.
There was no working smoke-detector in the apartment, Mercado said, but the canines alerted the residents to the fire.
Cause of the fire was traced to the couch being placed to close to a wall heater, Mercado said.
Damage to the unit was estimated at $10,000.
No other units were damaged, he said.
— Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
