At around 5:30 a.m. Sunday morning, an apartment building at 6563 Trigo Road in Isla Vista was evacuated because of a fire. According to an investigator on the scene, the fire started when a bag of trash and fireworks was doused with an accelerant and ignited in the staircase of the three-story complex.
Tenants had to stay out of their apartments for almost two hours as county personnel cleared the building and looked into the cause of the fire. Investigators determined that the blaze was the result of arson.
The fire itself caused minimal damage, but several apartments had significant water damage when their sprinkler systems were activated.