Fire Quickly Doused, but Guts Apartment
Fire gutted a second-story apartment in east Ventura on Friday afternoon, causing extensive damage to a neighboring unit and leaving two people homeless, authorities said.
Firefighters were called to the 6400 block of Hummingbird Street about 4:30 p.m. after neighbors reported flames coming from the apartment.
“We saw a lot of smoke coming out of the bedroom window,” said Marisela Torres, who lives in the apartment below the one in which the fire originated. “I called 911 right away.”
It took Ventura city firefighters less than 10 minutes to extinguish the blaze, which caused thousands of dollars in damage to one apartment and smoke damage to the apartment next door.
“There was just a lot of smoke,” Capt. Paul Masiel said. “But it turned out that the fire was limited to the one apartment.”
Masiel said that two people live in the apartment but that no one was home when the fire began. The residents were not available for comment late Friday.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, although officials said that it apparently began in the bedroom.
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