A home was destroyed in a fire Friday morning in the 700 block of South Lincoln Street in Santa Maria.
Home destroyed in fire
SANTA MARIA – A home was destroyed in a fire Friday morning in the 700 block of South Lincoln Street in Santa Maria, authorities said.
The fire was reported before 8:30 a.m. The Santa Maria City Fire Department responded with multiple engines, a truck company and battalion chief, and arriving units found a working fire inside the home, according to fire officials.
No injuries were reported and the home was considered a total loss, the department posted on Twitter.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
— Mitchell White
Airport repaves long-term parking lot
SANTA BARBARA — The Santa Barbara Municipal Airport has completed several repair and improvement projects, including a repavement of the long-term terminal parking lot.
The parking lot officially reopened Friday, with nearly 750 parking stalls, excluding motorcycle and ADA parking. Every stall now affixed with a number to make locating vehicles easier upon return, according to officials.
While the airport was anticipating a record-breaking summer travel season after 50% increases in passenger traffic in January and February, it is now working to recover from record-breaking passenger losses since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At one point, the airport lost 96% of its passengers and as of June 10, passenger numbers are approximately 20% of normal volumes, or more than 300 passengers per day
“Making the most of an unprecedented situation, SBA used the time with fewer passengers to prepare for an inevitable recovery,” the airport posted to Facebook on Friday. “Over the last couple of years, many passengers have noticed the buckling blacktop and weeds pushing up through the cracks. But completing a repaving project was a huge challenge — the lot was nearly always at or over capacity.”
Repaving the lot would require closing portions of the lot for significant periods of time, officials said.
“We actually attempted to repave the lot last year, but we had to abort the effort because the impact of closing even portions of the parking lot was just too severe on travelers,” Airport Director Henry Thompson said in a statement. “When we realized that the pandemic would leave the lot empty for a while, we jumped on the chance to accelerate the project.”
— Mitchell White
