Beach City Apartment fire displaces more than a dozen SBCC students

SANTA BARBARA, Calif.-When a fire started at the Beach City Apartments before 9 :30 Saturday night Xavier Ascencio said he was in Isla Vista with friends.

He started getting messages about the fire and smoke and headed home to the apartment complex on the corner of Cliff and Loma Alta Drive near Santa Barbara City College.

Daniela De Souza Ferreyra said firefighters evacuated the students in on the nine buildings closest to the apartments on fire.

"It was a big fire. We got super scared. We started grabbing all our things our laptops our valuables our passports, everything and we left the building with the most prized possessions," said De Souza Ferreyra.

The Santa Barbara City College math major from Peru said she grabbed her passport and headed outside.

She took pictures of the flames.

Delaney Smith with St. George & Associates that manages the property said one apartment that housed eight people and another that housed six are damaged.

Smith said they are putting the 14 displaced residents up at a hotel that is close enough to walk to campus.

One unit has smoke damage that is likely to be repaired sooner than the other.

Students were evacuated and kept away from the building for about three hours.

Those in rooms that were not damaged returned after midnight.

City and county firefighters put the fire out and cut through the roof for ventilation.

Mesa neighbors said they could smell the smoke blocks away.

Firefighters are still looking into the cause of the fire.

he attic of the second floor