Family Homeless After Condo Fire

A family of three was left homeless Wednesday after a fire roared through its condominium’s garage, causing about $110,000 in damage.

Joe Luna, a Ventura County Fire Department spokesman, said the fire was most likely caused by a faulty clothes dryer in the garage in the 400 block of Las Palomas Drive near Patterson Road in Port Hueneme.

Luna said the family’s 6-year-old daughter was the first to smell smoke after the blaze broke out about 10:34 p.m. Tuesday.

“The daughter alerted the family,” Luna said. “When [her father] got up and couldn’t locate anything, he opened the door to the garage and encountered smoke. He closed the door and dialed 911.”

The condo unit, one of four connected as part of a larger complex, sustained about $90,000 in damage and contents valued at $20,000 were lost, Luna said.

The other three units in the complex were not damaged, he said.

Red Cross officials were on the scene after the fire, and the family is temporarily staying with relatives, Luna said.

The fire was the latest in a series of blazes in recent months where investigators suspected a faulty clothes dryer as the cause.

A house fire that started near a garage dryer in November gutted part of a Camarillo home, forcing a family of seven out on the street. In September, a blaze caused more than $200,000 worth of damage to a Newbury Park home after gasoline fumes were ignited by a burner inside a dryer, according to county fire investigators.