Explosion destroys local apartment

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

An explosion rocked a Santa Barbara apartment complex today, shattering windows and sending a torrent of flames through one unit that City Fire officials said was completely destroyed.
“It looks like we had a classic back draft explosion,” said Battalion Chief Andrew DiMizio. “It must have been quite an explosion. Fortunately no one was home and no one was hurt.”


DiMizio said the explosion, which broke out in unit B-3 at the Villa Maria apartment complex on 1504 Eucalyptus Hill Road, was likely caused by a fire that smoldered for an extended period of time before the mixture of oxygen and smoke combined to make a fuel that ignited.
When it did explode, he said the windows in the apartment blew out, oxygen flooded the room and turned the fire into a full-blown blaze, which neighbors said jumped from the front window and caught a nearby tree on fire.
“It was a pretty hardcore explosion,” said Noel Cohen, who lives across the street from the complex. “It shook the windows. Everyone knew what was going on.”
One resident, who said he did not want to be identified, said he thought the explosion was an earthquake but heard shattering glass. By the time the man went outside, he said flames were already coming through the windows.
Pete Castaneda, who lives two apartments down from the unit, said he heard the blast, saw that the windows were blown out and knocked on the door to see if anyone was home. When no one answered, Castaneda said he called 911.
One resident said a woman in her 50s lives in the apartment.
DiMizio said back draft situations are usually caught sooner if there is a working smoke detector.
In this case, he said firefighters found a melted smoke detector on the ceiling, but there was no way to immediately determine if it was operable.
“We like to catch fires in the early stages,” DiMizio said. “That’s why we like to have smoke detectors.”
The exact cause of the fire has not been determined, but residents said all of the appliances and heaters in the apartment complex are electric.