Moorpark House, Belongings Destroyed : 28 in Family Left Homeless by Fire

Silvia Acosta and her husband, Manuel, lived with their six children and 20 relatives in a ramshackle rented house atop a cactus-covered hill in Moorpark. But Manuel’s job in a Simi Valley clothing factory enabled them to save $3,000, which they planned to use for a down payment on a home of their own someday.

Then, on Monday afternoon, the wood and stucco house went up in smoke, taking their savings with it.

The four-bedroom house on Walnut Canyon Road, home to the 28-member extended family, caught fire about 2:30 p.m. All their possessions were destroyed.

Living with the Acostas were their children--ranging in age from 7 months to early teens--Manuel’s parents, Manuel’s brother and eight cousins, one of them with a wife and eight children. All are immigrants from Mexico.

Manuel Acosta said the family discovered the house was on fire when a niece, 4-year-old Sandra Mendoza, opened a bedroom door, saw flames and ran to her mother.

“She got so scared she couldn’t talk or yell or anything,” Sandra’s mother, Josefina Mendoza, said in Spanish.

Silvia Acosta ran outside with her 7-month-old daughter, Victoria, in her arms. She was joined by her mother-in-law, Victoria Mena Acosta, a frail woman less than 5 feet tall who had two small children by the hand. Manuel followed with another pair of toddlers.

Firefighters called by neighbors worked about 45 minutes to extinguish the flames, said Ventura County Fire Department spokeswoman Rhonda Barnes. Although the Fire Department had not determined the cause of the blaze, Manuel Acosta said faulty wiring in a lamp was to blame.

The family escaped unharmed but now has nowhere to live.

Worries for Children

“I hope God helps us and doesn’t leave us alone,” said Victoria Mena Acosta, 58, grandmother of the 14 children who lived in the house.

“I worry most for those who have small children. I have only my husband,” she said.

They will stay temporarily at a motel in Simi Valley, said Francois de la Roche, assistant manager of the Ventura County Chapter of the American Red Cross, which arranged the shelter, food and clothing for the family.

“Hopefully, we can get them into permanent housing in a few weeks,” De la Roche said. “But it will be easier for the single men to find individual housing than for families with kids.”

De la Roche said the Red Cross has allocated about $14,000 to help the fire victims, but donations are needed. “By no means will the family have everything they had prior to the fire. We just can’t totally replace all the losses. We simply meet their emergency needs.”

The loss of personal possessions was estimated by firefighters at $15,000. The house was not listed as a loss because the building had been condemned and was to be demolished, Barnes said.

“What we lost are just material things. At least none of the children were hurt,” Salvador Canela, 40, said.

Guadalupe Acosta, Silvia’s brother-in-law, said he arrived home from his factory job ready to celebrate his 20th birthday. Instead, he found all he owned charred and scattered around the remains of the house.

“What a birthday present I received,” he said with a rueful smile.

Silvia Acosta gestured at a clothesline laden with freshly washed laundry.

“That’s all we have left,” she said.