Blaze Guts House That Was Focus of Complaints : Oxnard: Officials believe the fire was set. Signs on the residence warning of toxic danger had angered neighbors.

An Oxnard Shores house, the target of neighborhood anger over its posted signs warning of an underground toxic dump, was gutted by a fire early Thursday that investigators believe was deliberately set.

Fire officials have ruled out accidental causes in the early morning blaze, which caused an estimated $200,000 in damage to the house on Dunes Street owned by Lynda Paxton.

The unoccupied house was partially covered with large signs including “Oxnard’s Own Love Canal,” and is the subject of a bitter legal dispute between Paxton and neighbors who want the signs removed.

Paxton is also one of 175 plaintiffs who have joined in a $2.8-billion lawsuit against the developer of the 100-lot subdivision, its former landowner and the city of Oxnard for not disclosing the presence of a former oil waste dump to home buyers.

Paxton stopped making mortgage payments on the house three years ago when she moved out, but retains ownership because her lender has decided not to foreclose until the health safety questions are resolved.

She said that she has continued to carry fire insurance on the property, but declined to specify the amount of coverage. “I know I will have a fight,” she said, in collecting on the policy.

Paxton has alienated many neighbors in the community with her signs painted on a wooden fence and the side of her house. The large number of individuals who want the signs removed will complicate the arson investigation, said Clarence Slayton, a battalion chief with the Oxnard Fire Department.

“We’ll need a Colombo to solve this,” Slayton said, referring to the disheveled television sleuth.

The fire Thursday started about 12:30 a.m. and heavily damaged the interior of the two-story duplex, fire officials said.

Investigators who searched through the rubble believe the fire started in an upstairs room, and may have been started by someone igniting a flammable liquid like gasoline or lighting fluid, Slayton said.

He said investigators found a newspaper that had been twisted into the shape of a cone and may have been used as a torch.

For now, he said, investigators are looking at the possibility that vagrants may have set the fire, but said it was too soon to rule out other causes.

Kevin Schroepfer, a department fire investigator, said that no witnesses have reported seeing someone set the fire. An anonymous motorist passing by the scene alerted firefighters.

Neighbors awakened by the fire and the activity of firefighters said the house was heavily involved in flames.

“It was going real hot and heavy with flames coming out the windows,” said Rich McDaniel, who lives across the street and had inquired about purchasing Paxton’s house.

Bob Thomas, another neighbor, said he was returning home at the time the fire started. “I looked over and saw a big ball of flames,” Thomas said.

Thomas added that he was glad the sign-covered house had gone up in flames, and said he asked firefighters to let it burn to the ground.

“When I got home I opened a bottle of champagne and had a housewarming party,” he said.

The owner of a neighboring apartment house, who asked that his name not be used, described Paxton’s house as an eyesore and said he had difficulty finding tenants because of its appearance.

“We were all afraid something like this would happen,” he said.

Paxton defended the signs she had painted on the property in 1990, saying warnings about the presence of toxic substances were authorized by Proposition 65. Although a state health report described the health risks from the former oil waste facility as minimal, she said the report also confirmed the presence of some 50 chemicals in the soil, including cyanide and arsenic.

“I know the city, county, and state health services want to downplay the problem, but I know there are volatile chemicals out there of a serious nature,” Paxton said.

“Nobody knows for sure what the long-term effects are of the combination of the 50 chemicals they’ve identified in the soil,” she said.

After Paxton and Stephen Blanchard, another plaintiff in the lawsuit, posted the signs on their houses, a group of neighboring homeowners requested that they remove them.

In October, 1990, several men removed an 11-by-40 foot sign from Blanchard’s house, and the next day painted over the signs on Paxton’s house.

Several weeks later, after Paxton repainted the signs, Oxnard cited her, saying the signs violated a city ordinance. A jury deadlocked over the charges, and the charges were dismissed.

Paxton and Blanchard have filed a lawsuit against both the Oxnard Shores Community Assn. and the city of Oxnard, charging them with conspiring to trespass and vandalize the properties.

The Oxnard Shores Community Assn. then obtained a court injunction barring Paxton from displaying the signs, arguing that the signs violated the standards required in the subdivision’s deed restrictions.

That injunction was postponed when Paxton filed an appeal, said Kate M. Neiswender, her attorney.

Reached for comment, Tom Conway, a director in the Oxnard Shores Community Assn. who was named in Paxton’s suit, said Thursday’s fire was unrelated to his group’s efforts to remove Paxton’s signs.

“The fire last night was an illegal act and had no connection with anything the association would be involved with,” Conway said.

Blanchard, who with Paxton has been among the most visible plaintiffs in the massive and complex Dunes lawsuit, said he believes the fire was part of a pattern of intimidation.

“It seems like the closer we get to trial, the more frequent and intense are the threats,” Blanchard said.

If Paxton does not refurbish the house she vacated more than three years ago, it will be up to city building officials to determine whether the house must be torn down, Schroepfer said.