Vegetation fire causes closures on US 101 in Goleta

Fire crews responded to a vegetation fire on US 101 in Goleta Monday evening.

The fire was first reported at around 6:35 p.m. near the Hollister Avenue off-ramp.

The initial call was for a eucalyptus tree that was engulfed in flames. When firefighters arrived they saw that the fire had spread to nearby vegetation, scorching a 50-foot by 50-foot square between the the highway and the nearby train tracks.

Fire personnel requested train traffic to be shut down while they battled the flames. Lane closures on the freeway were put in place and lasted about 30 minutes.

At around 7:30 p.m., forward progress on the fire had been stopped and railroad traffic was allowed to resume.