Arson Blamed in Avenue-Area Fire
A two-alarm fire in an abandoned residential hotel in Ventura’s Avenue area was deliberately set, authorities said.
The fire began about 8 p.m. Thursday in a closet in a second-story room of the Casa de Anza Apartments at the intersection of East Simpson Street and Ventura Avenue and spread to the third floor, said Bill Rigg, Ventura battalion chief.
Concern that transients might be living in the deteriorating old brick building prompted the second alarm, but firefighters extinguished the blaze within 30 minutes, Rigg said.
“We don’t know from one day to the next whether anybody is going to be in there or not,” he said.
Firefighters found no one in the building as they doused the blaze.
The exact cause of the arson is under investigation. Damage was estimated at $1,000.
“Two people were seen climbing out a window about 20 minutes before the fire,” Rigg said.
In May, the city pledged $200,000 in federal money to rehabilitate the neighborhood eyesore into low-income housing.
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