Crime Fighter Tries His Hand at Firefighting

Normally Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury spends his time fighting crime. But on Friday morning, Bradbury decided to instead start the day as a firefighter.

While en route to work about 8:30 a.m., Bradbury noticed black smoke billowing up from the Ventura Imperial Mobile Estates near Telephone Road.

“I pulled off to the side of the freeway and ran down, jumped a fence and grabbed a hose,” said Bradbury, with a streak of soot across his face and dirt on his slacks. He said he “worked on the fire until the Ventura Fire Department arrived.”

At first, no one knew who Bradbury was.

“I just thought he was some guy in a suit,” resident Eric Garcia said. “He had on a nice tie.”

“Who is Mike Bradbury?” asked another resident, who declined to disclose his name.

“I heard a rumor that the district attorney was out here,” said Eric Shriver, owner of the mobile home that caught fire. “I didn’t think it was true.”

Shriver, his wife and three children were not at home at the time the blaze started in the clothes dryer. The family is expected to stay with a relative until other living arrangements are made. The fire caused an estimated $100,000 damage.

Fire officials said they appreciated Bradbury’s willingness to help.

“As I went into the mobile home, he helped feed me the hose,” firefighter Chuck Young said. “The fire was ripping.”

Within minutes the blaze swept through the wood-framed structure, blowing out the windows and twisting the metal roof. Two firefighters fell through the floor trying to put out the fire. Neither was injured.

“In eight minutes it was gone,” said Cheri Garcia, who lives across the street from Shriver. “There was nothing you could do.”

After the fire was extinguished, Bradbury walked around the scene, joking with officials and trying to duck from photographers.

He called one of his investigators to pick him up.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to hop back over that fence,” Bradbury explained.

Back at the office, Bradbury downplayed his role in the event.

“It’s nothing,” he said. “It’s really nothing.”

Times staff photographer Alan Hagman contributed to this story.