Officials Seek Arsonist in Fire Near Park : Investigation: A man in an old brown or tan van reportedly sped away from the scene shortly after the blaze began.

Ventura fire officials are seeking a man in a brown or tan van as a suspect in the arsonist-set fire that consumed 230 acres near Arroyo Verde Park above the city on Tuesday, authorities said.

Investigators are asking for information from anyone who may have seen the man, described by witnesses only as a white male in an old brown or tan van, who reportedly sped away from the scene shortly after the fire began about 2:50 p.m.

Arson investigators found no incendiary device where the fire began, about 100 feet from the pavement at the north end of the park, Capt. Barry Simmons said. But they found footprints leading to that spot, he said.

“We are thinking it was a teen-age or older man,” Simmons said, basing the conclusion on the adult-sized footprints.

He speculated that the arsonist may have used a cigarette lighter or matches to start the blaze, which came within half a mile of houses along Skyline Road and Topa Topa Drive.

Simmons said he had no information on whether the incident could be linked to any of four arson fires in rural Fillmore and Santa Paula areas during the last two weeks.

“We will talk to investigators with Ventura County Fire to see whether there is any common link, any similar circumstances,” he said.

Three of the fires that consumed a total of 2,200 acres in the Santa Paula and Fillmore areas on Oct. 8 and 9 have been linked to the same arsonist, Ventura County Fire Department Investigator William Hager said. The fourth fire, set Sunday east of Santa Paula, had a different “method of operation,” Hager said. That fire consumed less than half an acre before it was extinguished.

A Ventura police desk officer said a man who refused to give his name called 911 from a public telephone at 2:51 p.m. to report the fire. The blaze, which consumed brush in the hillside behind the park and Sexton Canyon to the northeast, shot 75-foot flames into the clear afternoon sky over Ventura.

A team of more than 100 firefighters with 15 engines and two water-carrying helicopters built a line around the fire by 6:08 p.m. and extinguished it by 7 p.m., Simmons said.

No firefighters were injured, and no property damage was reported.

Officials estimated Tuesday night that the fire had burned 320 acres, but revised the figure to 230 acres on Wednesday.