Family Welcomes Chance to Repay Old Friends for Their Aid After Tragedy

Nine years ago, after fire gutted their home and killed two of their children, Roy and Simone Sparks of Westlake Village took refuge in the home of longtime friends Lowell and Lori Byrne.

Now, the Sparks are returning the favor by giving shelter to the Byrnes in the wake of a fire which gutted the Byrnes’ Westlake Village house Tuesday afternoon.

“We welcomed the opportunity to reciprocate. It’s an honor,” Roy Sparks said Wednesday night. “They were really helpful to us, and they are welcome to spend as much time here as they want.”

Roy Sparks, his wife, and his son Kit, now 27, lived with Lori and Lowell Byrne and their two young children for several days after fire swept through the Sparks’ home at 3 a.m. on March 18, 1981, killing Colette, 16, and Paul, 8.

The Byrnes, who had been friends for 11 years before that “came to us right after it happened--in the next hour or two--and took us in,” Roy Sparks said. “They gave us the strength to come out of the state we were in. It was much easier to survive having friends around us.”

And on Tuesday, just an hour after fire swept through the Byrne home at 1290 Barclay Court, Roy and Simone Sparks were there to offer their friends solace and shelter.

Roy Sparks said he received a phone call from a mutual friend alerting him to the fire and rushed over.

“I didn’t want to call them because I thought ‘Oh, with all they have been through this will just bring it all back,”’ Lori Byrne said Wednesday.

But she said the minute she saw them, she felt comforted.

“As they walked in, I could see my husband relaxing,” she said. “They have been wonderful to us. They know the pain and they can give us all the advice on what do do.”

Roy Sparks said the Byrnes have an open invitation to stay at his house as long as they want. The Byrnes are planning to rent a house to live in for the 4 to 6 months that it will take their house to be rebuilt.

The cause of Tuesday’s fire is under investigation, but Ventura County Fire Department officials said the blaze caused $200,000 damage to the house, and that the family lost $85,000 in possessions. None of the family was home when the fire broke out.