A boat caught fire roughly three miles off El Capitán State Beach Tuesday afternoon, forcing its sole occupant to jump into the Pacific Ocean to escape the flames. The man was pulled from the water without injuries and brought back to shore for a medical check, according to local authorities.
The blaze was reported shortly before 3:30 p.m. about three miles offshore from El Capitán State Beach on the Gaviota Coast, according to Noozhawk. KCLU reported the fire broke out at about 3:30 Tuesday afternoon off El Capitan State Beach, and confirmed there was no one else on board the boat besides the man who escaped into the water.
Accounts differ on exactly who pulled him to safety. Noozhawk reported he was rescued by a nearby Good Samaritan vessel and later transferred to a Santa Barbara City Harbor Patrol boat, while KEYT reported that a Harbor Patrol vessel pulled the man from the water directly and took him back to Santa Barbara Harbor for further medical assessment.
No Injuries, But Boat's Identity Withheld
Whichever vessel reached him first, the man emerged unharmed. Noozhawk reported that he was not injured and was taken to Santa Barbara Harbor for evaluation, arriving at about 5:40 p.m. His name was not released, and the outlet reported that the name and type of the boat were not disclosed either, with the cause of the fire still under investigation.
Second Boat Fire In Two Days Near Santa Barbara
The Gaviota Coast fire came just a day after a similar emergency rattled the area. Per the same Noozhawk account, emergency responders rescued two people from a burning boat offshore of Montecito on Monday, and no injuries were reported in either of the back-to-back incidents.
The pair of fires has drawn extra attention because of a separate report from Fox News describing a Santa Barbara couple's new life on the water. According to Fox News, Kathy Ireland had obtained an open-ocean commercial fishing license from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and planned to work as a crew member on the 4th Watch, a vessel captained by her husband. The outlet also reported that her husband spent 40 years as an ER doctor before recently retiring, balancing both medicine and commercial fishing for the past two decades.
Ireland had previously spoken about the arrangement on social media, writing on X, “Open Ocean Commercial Fishing License! I'm Lobster Crew for the 4th Watch with Captain Greg Olsen! Some say spouses shouldn't work together, I think it will be great! We drop bait the end of September!”
Investigation Continues
For now, the cause of Tuesday's fire remains under investigation, and officials have released few details beyond the basic sequence of events: a boat burning three miles offshore, one person aboard, and a rescue that got him out of the water safely. The series of fires near the Santa Barbara County coast this week has left local agencies with more questions than answers about what sparked either blaze.
