VENTURA : Explosion Destroys Apartment House

An arsonist lit an explosive fire that blew the windows and doors off of a vacant triplex apartment house in Ventura late Sunday and consumed most of the building, fire officials said Monday.

Neighbors heard an explosion shortly before 9:27 p.m. as far as blocks away from the empty building at the corner of Buena Vista and Hemlock streets, said Ventura Fire Capt. Barry Simmons. Thirty seconds after the initial blast, a more powerful explosion shattered the windows and knocked the doors off the 1920s-vintage clapboard apartment house, Simmons said.

Four Ventura fire engines arrived with 12 firefighters, who knocked the fire down in about 10 minutes by shooting about 500 gallons of water onto the 2,400-square-foot house, Simmons said.

Investigators at the scene determined Monday that the gas lines in the house were shut off and that the fire was started deliberately, Simmons said. But he said fire officials have not announced what was used to start the blaze. “I would assume it’s flammable liquids, but we just don’t know yet,” he said.

The previous tenants had been evicted from the house within the past two weeks, Simmons said.