A fire broke out early Saturday in an old two-story Victorian home near downtown Santa Barbara.
Santa Barbara city firefighters responded at about 12:25 a.m. to the residential structure on the 1200 block of De la Vina Street, according to fire Battalion Chief Cory Cloud.
When crews arrived, they saw heavy black smoke coming from the building, which contained a wall heater, and recently had been converted to apartments.
Cloud said that four people who lived in the unit were evacuated. They were connected with the American Red Cross, which found them lodging at a local hotel for the weekend.
A fifth resident also was evacuated from the building.
No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire remained under investigation.
The blaze “could have been a lot worse,” Cloud said, considering it was at an older Victorian home.
