OXNARD : Family’s Home Destroyed by Fire

An Oxnard family of four was left homeless Wednesday when their three-bedroom mobile home was gutted by a fire that threatened neighboring mobile homes before firefighters extinguished the blaze.

Investigators had not determined what sparked the fire by late Wednesday, but Battalion Chief Terry McAnally said it may have been caused by an iron left on in the back bedroom.

Eighteen firefighters on four engines and a ladder truck responded to the 4:04 p.m. call in the Kona Kai Mobile Estates off Ives Avenue in south Oxnard, with firefighters working quickly to prevent the fire from jumping to nearby mobile homes. It took less than 20 minutes to contain the blaze, McAnally said.

“These things burn so fast, you have to knock them down to protect the (other homes),” he said. “That was our big concern.”

Sonia Castillo, who lived in the mobile home with her daughter and two small children, said she had no idea how the fire started.

“We were all called here from work,” she said, holding back tears. “We’re still trying to figure out what happened.”

Friends and neighbors gave Castillo contact numbers for the American Red Cross and Salvation Army shelters as fire investigators toured the remains.

Castillo’s daughter, Leslie Salazar, said she was home when the fire started, but was uncertain what ignited the blaze. She told investigators she had been ironing in the back bedroom earlier in the afternoon.

“I called (911), moved the car and the bike and by then I couldn’t go back in,” she said.

Castillo said she had lived in the mobile home for 10 years.

One firefighter--Capt. George Todd--was treated at the scene by paramedics for smoke inhalation.