Apartment fire in T.O. displaces 10 people, nobody is injured

SEBASTIAN RAMIREZ/Special to the Acorn NOBODY HURT- A Ventura County firefighter sprays water at an apartment complex fire in the 300 block of Rolling Oaks Drive in Thousand Oaks. It took them about an hour to douse the flames on Dec. 29. The blaze destroyed two second-story apartments, damaged two more and displaced 10 residents. Four first-floor apartments also had water damage. An apartment fire in Thousand Oaks left 10 people in eight units without homes or belongings.

Fifty-five firefighters, in six engines and four ladder trucks, and other fire support personnel took about an hour to knock the fire down after the call went out at 10:26 p.m. Dec. 29, Capt. Ron Oatman said.

When firefighters arrived, the fire had burned through the red tile roof on the second story of the Los Robles Apartments in the 300 block of Rolling Oaks Drive, he said.

From his apartment across the parking lot, Irfan Qose could only watch as the fire burned, he said.

His car was parked in a space next to the burning building.

"I could not get my car out. It was trapped by the firetrucks," Qose said.

His 1999 Honda Accord, once white, now has brown scorches on the front.

"It was amazing how quickly (the units) went up in flames," apartment resident Heather Kraake said.

When her family heard the sirens, they didn't realize units in their complex were on fire until Kraake's husband, Brian, went out and investigated, she said. She and her two daughters, Kayla, 11, and Sophia, 8, came by the next day to see the damage to the apartments.

"It's pretty sad. I'm glad no one was hurt," she said.

The fire department is still investigating but has decided it is not a suspicious fire, Oatman said.

Some of the apartments, built in 1972, are being refurbished. The 248 units all have space heaters, apartment manager Chrystal Schoenbrum said.

By 1:30 a.m. the fire had been extinguished, leaving four upstairs units burned and four downstairs units with water damage, Oatman said.

The American Red Cross responded to 10 clients, said Maria Sanchez, director of communications for American Red Cross of Ventura County.

Two people were put in temporary housing, and two went to stay with friends. The other six were given cots, blankets and kits that included soap, toothpaste, toothbrush, washcloths and other toiletries, she said.

Apartment complex employees opened the recreation room, giving food and shelter to those affected by the fire while they waited for the Red Cross disaster team to respond. The apartment management also provided the displaced fire victims with vacant apartments, Schoenbrum said.

The 756squarefoot apartments rent for about $1,200 to $1,450 a month, she said.

"What they really need right now is clothes," Schoenbrum said the day after the fire. "We had one man wearing a bathrobe today until someone gave him a T-shirt."