Firefighters rescued two people Monday after a boat caught fire in the waters near Channel Drive in Santa Barbara County.
The Montecito Fire Department said it received a report at approximately 12:36 p.m. Nov. 9 that a vessel was burning about a half-mile offshore from Butterfly Beach. Crews immediately launched a rescue response.
Video released by the department captured the dramatic scene, with thick black smoke billowing from the boat against the clear blue ocean.
Responding agencies included the Santa Barbara City Fire Department, Harbor Patrol and the Carpinteria-Summerland Fire Protection District, according to Montecito Fire officials.
Harbor Patrol personnel brought both people safely off the vessel. Authorities said neither person was injured.
“Both people were uninjured and came aboard the Harbor Patrol boat,” the fire department said.
Santa Barbara firefighters working from one of the Harbor Patrol boats quickly put out the blaze, officials added.
The incident comes months after a separate maritime tragedy in July, when a burning boat sank near Alcatraz Island, killing one person and a dog.
The vessel, carrying 20 people, was roughly 600 yards off Alcatraz between the infamous island and the Golden Gate Bridge when it started sinking beneath the frigid waters of the bay.
Those on board were reportedly family members holding a memorial service.
The US Coast Guard had initially classified it as a “vessel fire” and said 19 people were aboard when the emergency unfolded. But the San Francisco Fire Department later said at a news conference that crews found no evidence a fire had occurred.
