Cigarette Starts House Fire, Killing 56-Year-Old Man

A 56-year-old Oak View man was killed when a discarded cigarette on a mattress ignited a fire in the Katherine Avenue home where he rented a room, authorities said Saturday.

Firefighters found Thomas Clark, a manager at the 2020 Recycle Center in Oak View, dead in his bedroom of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning at 12:35 a.m. Saturday, according to fire reports.

The Ventura County Fire Department received a call about a fire at 632 Katherine Ave. at 11:54 p.m. Friday and responded with four engines within five minutes. Firefighters at the scene discovered smoke coming from Clark’s bedroom and contained the fire at 12:12 a.m.

Neighbor Michaele Breese was returning home shortly before midnight when she heard a popping noise coming from the house where Clark lived.

“As soon as I saw the flames shooting out of the door, I ran and called the Fire Department,” Breese said.

Authorities estimated damage to the structure at $12,000 and $10,000 in losses to contents. Breese said John Manson, the house’s owner, came home just as the firetrucks arrived.

Breese remembered Clark as a man who was well-known around town because he did a lot of walking.

“He was extremely nice, but kind of shy. Once you got him talking, though, he was pretty talkative.”

Breese’s mother said Clark was not married and is survived by two daughters in Oak View. According to Nancy Breese, minor fires had broken out in the home twice before as a result of smoldering cigarettes.