Fire on Dara Road in Goleta

Large plumes of black smoke were seen throughout the Santa Barbara area on Wednesday afternoon as a house fire raged in the Goleta suburbs near Cathedral Oaks Road. The fire, which started in the corner home at 622 Dara Road and spread to the adjoining properties on Dara and Andamar Way, started around 4:45 p.m., and required a number of engines to put it out.

Neighbor Vince Zaccone’s daughter Ilaria was the first in his family to spot the smoke, from her bedroom window a block away. There was so much smoke they initially thought the fire was closer, but by the time Zaccone got to the scene, it had already started spreading to the adjacent properties, including a vacant house that’s been for sale. “It was really quick,” he said, noting that many neighbors were evacuated. “By the time I walked down the street to look at the house, next door there were billowing flames.” He said that the conflagration at one point “sounded like fireworks.”

By 6 p.m., there was only white smoke to see, but Zaccone was still a bit in shock. “Things were very much on fire,” he said. “It was sort of scary…Hopefully everybody is okay.”