Two residents in Occidental were awakened Christmas Eve not by Santa, but by a smoke alarm when a fire broke out under their home. The Occidental Fire Department arrived about 2:30 in the morning to find flames and smoke coming from the home on on Deer Meadow Lane. They were on site for about 3 hours extinguishing flames and putting out hot spots. The home suffered about $150,000 in damage but should be able to be repaired, the fire appears to be an electrical accident.
