Firefighters douse blaze near railroad tracks

ERIC LINDBERG
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Santa Barbara firefighters quickly extinguished flames burning along a fence between the railroad tracks and the parking lot of Rancheria Village Apartments near the corner of Coronel Place and Rancheria Street at around 5 p.m. yesterday.
“We had about maybe 25 lineal feet of fence burning,” City Fire Capt. Bill Taff said. “It was going pretty good. … We had flames probably 15 feet high.”

As a fire investigator combed over the burned section of the fence, Capt. Taff said firefighters put out a similar fire in the same location a few days ago.
“We’ve had a series of suspicious fires [along the rail corridor] and this looks like another one,” he said.
Fire officials are unsure if the fires are being set intentionally or accidentally and said investigators will continue to look into the matter.