Oak View : Firefighter Finds His Own House Gutted

A Ventura firefighter rode home on horseback Friday to find a fast-moving fire had gutted his Oak View home only a week after he and his son had moved in.

“It’s pretty devastating, but I’m just glad my son’s all right,” said Ron Duran who has owned the small, three-bedroom house at 180 Oak Drive for seven years. He said that before they moved in last week, the house had been rented out.

His son, Jacob Duran, 15, was treated at the scene for first- and second-degree burns on his feet.

The Nordhoff High School student said he was watching television in the living room when the fire erupted shortly before 2 p.m. in the laundry room at the back of the house. He said he ran outside with a phone and called 911. He declined to say how he was burned.

The blaze caused $80,000 damage to the wooden house and about $12,000 to contents, Ventura County Fire Investigator Peter Cronk said.

The cause was still being investigated Friday, but Cronk said it appeared that clothing may have been ignited by the water heater’s pilot light.

Six engine companies with 32 firefighters responded to the alarm and had the fire under control by 2:36 p.m., a spokeswoman said. When firefighters arrived, rifle ammunition was exploding in the flames, Cronk said.

Duran said he had left that morning to ride horses on Sulphur Mountain with several friends. “We saw the smoke and heard the sirens but thought it was further away,” Duran said. “We all joked it was my house, but it’s funny, you go out on these calls all the time, but think it never happens to you.”