Santa Barbara County firefighters responded Friday afternoon to a vegetation fire burning along both sides of Highway 101 in Goleta.
The blaze, which broke out on the south side of the freeway near the Fairview Avenue offramp, was reported at about 2:30 p.m.
A short time later, flames also were reported on the north side of the freeway, behind businesses including a car wash, Motel 6, and Zodo’s Bowling and Beyond, according to emergency radio traffic.
Businesses in that area were being evacuated.
Emergency personnel also were evacuating a nearby homeless encampment, and were alerting residents in the Old Town area of Goleta via the 9-1-1 system.
At about 3:15 p.m., forward progress of the flames had been stopped, said fire Capt. Daniel Bertucelli.
Fairview Avenue and Highway 101 were shut down in the area of the fire.
Train traffic was shut down in the area due to the proximity of the railroad tracks.
Crews were expected to remain on scene for several hours doing extensive mop-up, Bertucelli said.
Cause of the fire was under investigation.
Check back with Noozhawk for updates to this story.
— 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.
