Structure fire investigation underway in downtown Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara City Firefighters have saved a downtown cottage after a fire broke out just before noon at 711 De La Vina Street.

The building has significant damage along with a storage site adjacent to it.

The cause is not known but firefighters were focusing on an electrical panel and intense burn patterns in that area of the property.

Flames and smoke were coming from the structure when the first of several engines arrived on both De La Vina and Ortega Streets. Part of the firefight included a long hose line feed through an alley.

Santa Barbara City Fire Captain Matt Wilson says other units nearby were not affected. He said the first crew cleared the structure to make sure no one was inside and stopped the forward spread of the fire. They then went after the core area where smoke and flames were boiling up.

No injuries were reported.

Fire crews cut open the roof to the storage unit to attack the flames and also went through a stuck garage door by carving a hole in the middle.

The storage site was full of furniture used in the rental units.

Owner John Whitehurst was on scene after he received a call about the fire. He was not sure what the source of the flames could have been but was investigating the garage area with firefighters early in the afternoon.

In a strange twist, nearby was one of two vehicles that were sideswiped in a hit and run on the same block earlier in the day. They were unrelated but it created two big incidents in a six hour period for residents there.

(Original story)

Santa Barbara City Fire Department is working to put out a structure fire.

Crews were dispatched to the 700 block of De La Vina at 11:47 a.m. Thursday for a report of heavy smoke coming out of a building.

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

We have a reporter on scene and will update this story with new information as it becomes available.