Soccer Group Escapes Unhurt as Fire Erupts in Park Building

A two-alarm fire damaged the second story of an office building in the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District complex Wednesday night, but members of a soccer group meeting downstairs in the facility escaped without injuries.

It took 29 firefighters about 45 minutes to contain the blaze, which broke out about 7:35 p.m. and destroyed a storage room.

Members of the Rancho Simi Trail Blazers, who were meeting in another building at the complex at 1692 Sycamore Drive, spotted the flames and called the Ventura County Fire Department.

When firefighters arrived on the scene, members of an American Youth Soccer Organization group were still meeting on the first floor of the burning building, according to Jerry Gladden, the park district’s general manager.

“They are absolute die-hards,” Gladden said.

Gladden credited the Rancho Simi Trail Blazers, a hiking group, for helping to minimize the damage by quickly alerting fire officials. “It could have been a lot worse,” he said.

Built in the 1960s, the complex consists of half a dozen buildings used as offices and storage. The complex includes a pool, recreation rooms and classroom space.

Members of the Simi Valley City Council and Planning Commission rushed to the scene after receiving word of the fire during a joint meeting of both panels at City Hall. Mayor Greg Stratton said he was upset by the loss, but thankful that the fire had not been worse.

“It is a major inconvenience and a cost that the district will not look forward to spending,” Stratton said.

Late Wednesday, investigators continued looking for the cause of the fire. The amount of damage to the building had not been determined.