SANTA PAULA : Crews Demolish Aged Fire Hazard

A four-year effort to rid Santa Paula of a potential fire hazard ended this week when wrecking crews demolished a turn-of-the-century packinghouse on East Railroad Avenue.

The wooden building, owned by Robert Zeigler of Ventura, had long been considered a fire danger, Santa Paula Fire Chief Paul Skeels said.

“It was just a huge fire waiting for somebody to torch it off,” said Skeels, who ordered the demolition of the 2 1/2-story building at 904 E. Railroad Ave.

If a fire had started in the rotted timbers of the nearly 100-year-old structure, the flames probably would have shot out of control, Skeels said. The fire would likely have spread to a nearby general store, hotel and two churches, he said.

The building, known as the “Blue Goose” and the “Old Walnut House,” was built sometime between 1900 and 1905 to sort and store produce but was abandoned about 30 years ago. Several old cars, hundreds of tires and piles of scrap wood were stored there until 1986, when fire officials ordered the materials removed, Skeels said.

“It was basically a derelict type of building that wasn’t going anywhere,” Skeels said.

“Increasingly, we eyed it with unease as the years went by and the building continued to deteriorate.”

Last month, city officials declared the building a nuisance and told Zeigler that he had until the end of June to tear down the building or make it conform to fire codes.