Santa Maria house fire kills 2 women, injures man

Two women were killed and a man was injured late Sunday night in a residential structure fire in the Tanglewood neighborhood near Santa Maria, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

The two-alarm fire was reported at 10:20 p.m. on the 3300 block of Driftwood Drive, said Mike Eliason, a Fire Department spokesman.

The two women, who were found in a bedroom of the house, were declared dead at the scene, Eliason told Noozhawk.

Their names were not released pending notification of relatives.

An additional victim, a man, was taken by AMR ambulance to Marian Regional Medical Center after suffering moderate burn and smoke-inhalation injuries, Eliason said.

The single-story home was engulfed in flames when the first crews arrived, Eliason said, noting that the intense flames were due to excessive contents inside the residence.

It took firefighters about 20 minutes to knock down the fire, and crews remained on scene for several hours doing mop-up and overhaul.

Two county sheriff’s deputies who responded to the incident were taken to the hospital as a precaution due to possible smoke inhalation, Eliason said.

Ten residents who were not at home at the time of the fire were receiving assistance in finding shelter, he added.

Cause of the fire remained under investigation.

Firefighters from the city of Santa Maria assisted on the incident.

Noozhawk executive editor Tom Bolton can be reached at tbolton@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.