A “bigger than usual” vegetation fire erupted early Tuesday near a homeless encampment along the railroad tracks in downtown Santa Barbara, causing the tracks to be shut down for about three hours, according to the Santa Barbara City Fire Department.
At about 1 a.m., firefighters responded to the 600 block of Wentworth Avenue to find two different fires burning on both sides of the tracks, Battalion Chief Mike DePonce told Noozhawk.
The larger fire was located on the southbound side of Highway 101 between the Carrillo Street onramp and the Castillo Street offramp, DePonce said, adding that wind-blown embers started a second fire near a fence adjacent to Wentworth Avenue.
The size of the affected area was about a quarter acre in total, and the railroad tracks were shut down for about three hours, until about 4 a.m., according to DePonce.
“What made this fire so big was that there was some wind that was fanning the flames, and there was a heavy amount of brush and debris in the area, so that the flames got up into the eucalyptus trees,” DePonce said.
Arriving crews attacked the fence fire on Wentworth first, and then crossed the tracks to douse the fire near the Highway 101 ramps, DePonce said.
There were no reported injuries and the cause of the fire remained under investigation, but DePonce said “it is worth noting that there was a homeless encampment in the direct vicinity of where the fire was started.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Jade Martinez-Pogue can be reached at jmartinez-pogue@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
