8 Ventura Fires Started in 3-Hour Arson Spree : Downtown: A Santa Barbara man is arrested in connection with the blazes. Red Cross offices were among those damaged.

Eight fires were set in downtown Ventura early Monday in a three-hour arson spree that heavily damaged two office buildings, including one owned by the American Red Cross of Ventura County.

A 48-year-old Santa Barbara man, Ronald Kenneth Snead, was arrested near the scene of a small brush fire next to a garage near the intersection of Hurst Avenue and San Nicholas Street.

Fire officials said Snead is the prime suspect in the string of eight trash and structure fires that began about midnight in downtown Ventura.

Ventura Police Officer Ray Romero, who arrested Snead, said he refused to answer any questions concerning the arson spree.

Snead has been charged with one count of arson with intent to commit bodily harm. Investigators who interviewed Snead described him as uncooperative and asked that his bail be increased to $100,000, said public information officer Barry Simmons of the Ventura Fire Department.

Officials estimated that the fires caused $240,000 in total damages. An office building in the 1000 block of Meta Street had $125,000 in damage, and a Red Cross office in a historic building on East Santa Clara Street received another $110,000 in damage.

Also damaged was an apartment house in the 100 block of South Laurel Street, where a trash receptacle fire had spread to an elevated stairway before firefighters responded.

The first fires reported were in trash bins in the 100 blocks of South Garden and West Main streets.

Less than an hour later, a neighbor reported hearing an explosion at the former Red Cross headquarters that is now used as a meeting room and storeroom. The explosion was followed by a fire.

Flames tore through the 100-year-old building’s crawl space, attic and roof.

Red Cross volunteers who are used to assisting families made homeless by residential fires rushed to their own office to assist in the cleanup. They removed emergency supplies stored in the clapboard house, including 200 cots and 400 blankets used to assist families displaced by fire and other disasters.

Surveying the damage later in the morning, former Red Cross director Irv August said the damage could have been worse if the building had not been constructed with flame-resistant redwood siding.

“I worked here for 17 years and it hurts,” August said as he and volunteer Tom La France poked around in the charred wreckage. “It smells like every disaster I was ever at.”

La France, who arrived at the scene at 3 a.m., said he found the deliberately set fire hard to accept.

“At disaster sites, I use my demeanor to soothe and calm the victim,” La France said. “The big question is, who’s going to soothe us?”

Red Cross Director Brian E. Bolton said the agency will continue its activities without interruption.