Local News in Brief : Firebombs Do $250,000 Damage at 2 Schools

Oxnard fire officials say they are sifting evidence found on the sites of two schools and a truck that were bombed with Molotov cocktails Sunday night in South Oxnard.

The bombings most seriously damaged E. O. Green School, where two gutted administration offices suffered about $250,000 in damage, said Don Cody, spokesman for the Hueneme Elementary School District.

The string of firebombings began at Hueneme High School, 500 Bard St., where a Molotov cocktail--a bottle of flammable liquid plugged with a burning rag or wick--was thrown through the window of an administrative office and caused $1,500 in damage, mostly from smoke, Capt. Pat Logue of the Oxnard Fire Department said. While firefighters were still working on the blaze at Hueneme High School, a truck was firebombed six blocks to the south.

The fire crews had barely returned to the station when they were called to E. O. Green School at 10:40 p.m.

Logue said the crews had the fire under control in about 15 minutes, but estimated the fire had been burning for about 20 minutes before the call came. Logue said the Molotov cocktail had been tossed into administration offices through a courtyard window not visible from the street.

The construction of the E. O. Green offices--paneling nailed to two-by-four beams with no dry wall underneath--accelerated the fire, Logue said.

“That stuff is like tinder,” he said. “It burned hot and fast, and the fire made it up to the attic in no time.”

The affected offices were not equipped with sprinklers, Logue said. All the fires were started with Molotov cocktails.

Classes at both schools resumed Monday, Cody said.