Condo Fire Leaves 10 Homeless

A fire raced through three condominiums in Ventura on Thursday morning, leaving 10 people -- five of them children -- homeless and causing an estimated $750,000 in damage.

The blaze began about 11:30 a.m. in a ground-floor unit of the Peppertree Condominium complex on Saratoga Avenue. By the time firefighters responded, flames were pouring out of the condo and into the two units above it.

“I called 911 and then ran over with my fire extinguisher, but it was so huge I just said, ‘forget it,’ ” said Tracey Cherrie, 44, who lives a few yards from where the fire occurred. More than 35 fire personnel struggled to knock down what they described as a stubborn blaze, especially dangerous in the densely packed complex of 343 white stucco condos. After 40 minutes, the main fire was out, but pockets of flame remained in the units.

“Any complex like this is a challenge,” said Deputy Fire Marshal Brian Clark of the Ventura Fire Department. “You have to make sure you don’t have fires going into the adjacent units.”

One unidentified woman suffered burns to her hand but her condition was unknown. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

The fire was a tragedy for Arturo Ahedo and his family, who lived in the condo where the blaze broke out.

Ahedo, 29, stood quietly on the grass, looking into the blackened ruins of his home. Everything inside was incinerated.

He, his wife and 6-year-old son were not home when the fire began but his 2-year-old daughter and her baby-sitter were inside but escaped.

“God was protecting my little girl,” he said. “You never expect this but I will go to church tonight. I will go and thank God that my family is OK.”

The family’s pastor, Fernando Franco of Oxnard, showed up to comfort them. “We all start out with nothing and I think God will give them even more now,” he said. “I think they got the best gift today, their daughter’s life.”

Another woman standing nearby sobbed into the arms of a friend. She lost her home and her dog, a 6-year-old border collie. “I’ll have these restored as soon as possible,” said Ray Marquez, manager of the complex. “These people need homes, especially at this time of the year.” Marquez said he had some empty units that could be rented by the families.

As he spoke, firefighters hauled charred chairs and couches from the condos. The Red Cross provided food to the displaced families as well as vouchers for local motels, meals and clothing.

Clark said this is a dangerous time of year for fires because of lighted candles that people forget and electrical problems with holiday decorations. “All I can tell people is be careful,” he said. “This is the time of year when we get a lot of preventable fires, and it’s a real tragedy.”