Fire in Rented Home Displaces 2 Families

Two families are homeless after a fire swept through the upper level of their rented, two-story house in the southwest corner of Newbury Park Wednesday evening.

The blaze, which occurred shortly before 5 p.m. at 3953 Elkwood St., destroyed one upstairs bedroom and caused heavy damage to another and an adjoining bathroom.

Ventura County Fire Department units arrived minutes after the fire was reported, and it was contained by 6 p.m. No other structures were damaged.

Angie Gracy, 22, who lived in the upper level of the house with her husband Bill, 28, and 2-year-old daughter, Sierra, was the only person home when the fire broke out, according to downstairs tenant Russell Williams. She was uninjured, he said, but the Gracy family’s pet parrot, Paco, perished in the blaze.

Williams, 34, said he and his wife Kimberly, 28, and their 2-year-old son, Lance, were returning home from the grocery store when they noticed a lot of commotion on their street.

“We came around the corner and saw some of the trucks and started saying, ‘What’s going on?’ ” Williams said. “Then we turned the corner and our hearts fell out.”

Williams, whose family’s belongings on the ground floor were damaged by smoke, said he was more concerned about the Gracys’ plight.

“Upstairs, it was all burned up. They lost everything,” he said.

Fire Department officials estimated that the fire caused $225,000 in damage to the home. Damage to both families’ belongings was estimated at $35,000.

The cause is under investigation.