Another home burns in Thousand Oaks

BILL SPARKES/Special to the Acorn CAUSE OF THE BLAZE STILL UNDETERMINED- Ventura County Fire Department firefighters spray foam on a home in the 800 block of Falmouth Street. The home was severely damaged by a fire that occurred about 9:30 a.m. on Monday morning. No injuries were reported. The serenity of a country setting was interrupted Monday morning when a fire broke out in one of Thousand Oaks' oldest homes at 9:24 a.m.

Danette McReynolds was home with her 12-year-old son in their 1929 estate just off Erbes Road in the 800 block of Falmouth Street.

She saved her goats by taking them over to neighbor Jeff Lindaman's property. Lindaman also helped her gather up her three dogs and took them to his house. The chickens had to save themselves. Luckily, they did.

"My chickens are okay," she said.

She's also hopeful some of her antiques in the back of the house survived, she said.

"The house was fully engaged when firefighters arrived," said Ventura County Fire Department Capt. Ron Oatman.

The original owners of the house also owned about 30 acres of property surrounding it, Lindaman said. His house, across the street, was their barn, he said.

The mature trees, the horses and the home's country setting seem natural for a rural area rather than a place so close to a main artery like Erbes Road.

The street was blocked off by firetrucks as the firefighters finished up later Monday morning, looking for hidden embers in spaces where it could still be smoldering. When firefighters first arrived on the scene the blaze was so big they could only fight it from the outside, VCFD spokesperson Bill Nash said, but it was extinguished by 10:08 a.m.

"The wind doesn't help. A fire like that can blow into someone else's property," Nash said.

The closest structures nearby, including cottages and a children's playground, belonged to the McReynolds family.

"When I first arrived, it looked like a brush fire from the street," Oatman said.

Remodeling was underway in the back of the house, he said.

Lilly, a small white dog that had lived in the house that burned, found comfort in her neighbor's arms. Lindaman held her as they watched the firefighters work.

"She's a good dog. They're nice neighbors. It's too bad this happened to them," Lindaman said.