Fire Causes $35,000 in Damage, Leaves Family Homeless

Venus Clark allowed her 3-year-old nephew Adam to disappear from her sight only momentarily Friday morning, but that was when she got her first whiff of smoke in their Ventura apartment.

“He came down the stairs, and he said, ‘Papa’s room is on fire! Papa’s room is on fire!’ ” recalled Venus, 17, who was baby-sitting Adam and his 8-year-old sister, Amanda.

Despite the heroic effort of a teen-age neighbor, the fire that began in an upstairs bedroom spread to an adjoining room in the apartment at 6404 Whippoorwill St., causing $35,000 in damage and leaving six people homeless the day after Thanksgiving.

Venus and the two small children were shaken but all three made it to safety. No one else was home.

John Dykes, an 18-year-old neighbor who battled flames in the burning unit, suffered multiple cuts to his right hand while breaking the glass encasing a fire extinguisher. The wounds required stitches.

Fourteen other units in the two-story stucco apartment building at the corner of Peacock Avenue sustained no damage. But Angie Thompson, 16, who lives next door to the Clarks, was treated at the scene for smoke inhalation.

“We smelled something burning, and then the window burst out and we left to see what was going on,” Angie said. “When we got outside, we saw all the smoke. It was awful.”

Barbara Graham, Venus’ mother and the grandmother of the two young children, said it was the second time that fire had chased the family from a home since 1979, when their house in Ohio was destroyed in a blaze.

Graham, 49, lived in the apartment as well but was out shopping for groceries when someone told her the apartment was ablaze.

“We lost everything” in 1979, she said. “. . .It’s hard to go through that again.”

Therese Clark, 29, the small children’s mother, and George Clark, 55, Graham’s ex-husband and the father of Venus and Therese, also lived in the burned-out apartment.

Ventura Fire Battalion Chief Wayne Belitski said the Red Cross would provide the family with temporary housing.

Venus said she called 911 when she noticed the smoke and led the two children outdoors, screaming for help.

John Dykes and his father, Alvin, heard Venus’ shrieks. “We went in there and felt the (bedroom) door, and it was hot,” John said. “When we opened it up, flames and smoke shot out.”

That was when he dashed out of the apartment and used his right hand to smash the glass to get the extinguisher.

“I didn’t even know I cut my hand,” John said.

The commotion appeared to frighten many of the young children who live in the building. As a paramedic bandaged his hand, John comforted his 4-year-old brother, Allen, who had tears streaking down his face.

“We tried to put it out,” John assured. “But it was too big, and we just got out of there.”

By the time fire personnel arrived, thick black smoke poured from a second-floor window.

Capt. Mike Maher, a fire investigator, said the fire quickly burned down into the bottom floor. A plume of smoke and flames could be seen from the Ventura Freeway.

“As we pulled up, the whole second floor was involved,” said Belitski.

Maher said an exact cause of the blaze had not been determined. But fire officials said relatives believe the 3-year-old was playing with matches.

When Maher tried to question Adam about what had happened, the little boy buried his blackened face into his mother’s shoulder.

Graham, the grandmother, said Therese Clark had been looking for another apartment for the family. She said the family wanted to move, in part because the apartment was small and had some maintenance problems.

“She (Therese Clark) paid $720 a month for this apartment,” Graham said, “and it wasn’t worth $300.”

Times correspondent Matthew Mosk contributed to this story.