Meiners Oaks Woman, 82, Dies in Mobile Home Fire

The day after a festive Mother’s Day celebration, an elderly Meiners Oaks woman died when an early morning fire destroyed her mobile home. Investigators have not yet determined the cause.

Florace Isma Agee, 82, was found dead shortly after 7:30 a.m. Monday. The previous day, 15 family members had given her a corsage, accompanied her to church, and treated her to a dinner out.

Ventura County Fire Department spokeswoman Sandi Wells said a 911 call came in at 7:17 a.m. from a neighbor behind the park at 1225 Rice Ave.

“The whole rear of the mobile home was in flames,” Wells said. “It was so hot they could not get in. . . . They actually had to knock the fire down to see if there was anyone inside.”

Six fire engines and a light-and-air truck rushed to the mobile-home park.

Firefighters found Agee lying near a bed in the rear bedroom.

They do not yet know what started the fire, Wells said.

Agee did not smoke. She had respiratory problems, relatives said, and carried a bottle of oxygen everywhere.

As the acrid smoke hung in the narrow streets of the El Sereno mobile-home park, half a dozen relatives stared in disbelief at the charred trailer. With a camera, one videotaped the debris.

The aluminum garage roof hung down like a fan. Twisted pieces of blackened metal swung from the roof at the back of the house.

“I took her home last night around 9:30,” said Glenn Hawks, her son-in-law, who described Agee as a very sociable person who loved crossword puzzles and reading.

Agee’s last full day was a special one. As the family visited with her on Mother’s Day, she saw a great-grandson she hadn’t seen before and heard a granddaughter sing a piece she hadn’t heard.

Monday was her only daughter’s birthday and was the birthday of Agee’s oldest sister, who died previously.

“May 11 is an important day,” said Karen Wilson, Agee’s youngest granddaughter. “It’s just a weird thing. My sister just happened to be in town. And my husband and I just moved down from Portland. . . . We were all saying something was going to happen.”

Neighbors milled about at the mobile-home park, shocked by Agee’s death.

T.J. Whittle said she’d heard a commotion early in the morning but didn’t know what it was.

“I didn’t even look out the window,” she said. “I just watched ‘Good Morning America.’ What a shame.”

Another neighbor, Norma Ellis, was on the way to the supermarket when she saw the firetrucks.

“I thought, ‘Something has happened. Something besides another heart attack,’ ” she said.