Arson Fire Scorches UCSB Construction Site

Early Sunday morning fire raced through UCSB's North Campus construction site on Phelps Road at Cannon Green, destroying several pieces of machinery and a shipping container. Firefighters reponded and extinguished the flames, and no injuries were reported. State, County and University Police suspect arson and are looking for a man reported to be in the area around the time of the fire. A $5,000 reward is offered for information leading to an arrest.

View from Phelps Road of fire damaged equipment

The construction site is the future home of housing for UCSB faculty. Despite the need for housing to attract qualified professors, the project has raised the ire of local residents who feel the project is harmful to the sensitive bluff ecosystem, and hinders public access to the beach and Elwood Preserve. Graffiti criticizing the UC and the project has appeared several times at the site.

Overview of Goleta showing location of fire 

Close up of location of fire. (Image of site before construction began)

Arson Fire Scorches UCSB Construction Site by Thomas Vieira is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at bytemaps.com.