Grover Beach

Teen upgraded to fair condition

A Grover Beach teen was listed in fair condition Sunday at Kern Medical Center after suffering major injuries in a car accident March 30 that killed her friend, according to hospital staff.

Amber Davenport, 17, suffered a broken pelvis, a bruised lung and head trauma from the crash, according to her mother Jocelyn Mercado.

Chelsea Holston, 18, of Arroyo Grande, died Tuesday at the hospital after suffering massive head trauma, a close friend, Marni Raue, said Friday.

As of Sunday afternoon, funeral arrangements for Holston had not been made.

Holston was driving in a 2006 Ford Ranger on Highway 43 around 8 p.m. March 30, when she slowed to 10 mph at the intersection of Highway 119 and Highway 43 and failed to make a stop at the stop sign, entering the path of a big rig truck coming west on Highway 119, according to a report by the California Highway Patrol.

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The driver of the truck, Armando Alarcon, 38, of Cuyama, reportedly was unable to stop his truck and slammed into the passenger side of the Ranger, sending both vehicles into the northwest corner of the intersection, where the Ranger's driver side hit a metal light pole, according to the CHP report.

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Goleta

Home suffers costly damge in fire

A early morning blaze Saturday caused $40,000 in damages to a single-family home in the 5500 block of Capellina Way in Goleta, according to Santa Barbara County Fire Department officials.

Firefighters reported seeing smoke coming from both ends of the home's attic upon their arrival around 7:47 a.m. Nobody was at home at the time of the fire, according to officials.

Firefighters used forcible entry into the home and found a wall connecting the living room to a bedroom engulfed in flames. The fire had traveled up to the attic, and destroyed both rooms, a hallway and a closet, officials said.

The fire was reported to be contained by 8:03 a.m. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, officials said.

--From staff reports.