On Thanksgiving Day, a family was displaced by a fire that destroyed their home in the Tanglewood section of Orcutt, Ca.
The call for help came in around 2:45 p.m., and the first alarm sent Santa Barbara County Engines 21, 22, 23 and Battalion 513, as well as Santa Maria City Engine 2.
County dispatchers advised units that they received several calls, and SBCoFD Engine 21 reported smoke showing shortly after. Heavy fire conditions and exposure problems on the D-side and unknown evacuation of the residents kept crews busy.
Firefighters opened up their deck gun and stretched an attack line to hit the exposure. They pulled attack lines to the interior of the fire building, and were met with fire in the kitchen, hallway and rear bedrooms. They were told that here may be pets trapped. But that was not the case.
As the fire raged on, a second-alarm was pulled, bringing a second SM City engine, SBCoFD Engines 24, 51 and 18, Breathing Support 18, and Division 503. Santa Maria also sent Battalion 211. The fire was fought using three 1 3/4 lines, a deck gun, and two one inch lines for mop up.
Many residents gathered across the street to watch firefighters knock this quick moving fire. During the fire, one of the residents passed out next to the incident commander and other firefighters. They were quick to grab her before she fell to the sidewalk. She was then given care at an AMR medic unit.
No firefighters were injured during the incident. Several engines were moved up to cover vacant stations.
