Blaze Guts Thrift Store in Oxnard : Fires: Investigators sift the ruins for signs of arson. The collapse of the roof makes the search for clues difficult.

A late-night fire that gutted an Oxnard thrift store was under investigation Wednesday and authorities said they had not ruled out arson.

Flames swept through the Retarded Citizens Thrift Store at 625 N. Oxnard Blvd. Tuesday night, causing the roof of the large one-story building to collapse about 10 minutes after firefighters arrived.

It took all six of Oxnard’s engine companies, plus a ladder truck and engine from the Ventura Fire Department, to extinguish the flames, which shattered windows on all sides of the building.

Firefighters reported that flames were first visible on the side of the building facing Oxnard Boulevard and appeared to spread toward the rear, Fire Capt. Brad Windsor said.

An employee of the foundation that operates the thrift store said a burglar alarm went off inside at 10:39 p.m., followed several minutes later by a fire alarm. The Oxnard Fire Department was called about the same time.

Windsor, who is leading the investigation, said money was recovered Wednesday from a safe and a cash drawer. All of the money kept at the store was accounted for, he said.

The nonprofit Foundation for Retarded Citizens owns the Oxnard thrift store and another one in Ventura. Together, the stores funnel about $30,000 a month to the Assn. for Retarded Citizens, which runs programs for people with disabilities in Ventura County, said Fred Robinson, the association’s executive director.

Hazel Kay, president of the foundation and past president of the association, said the contents of the thrift store were insured for $160,000.

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“We have every intent of continuing in business” in Oxnard, Kay said. “This is essential to our survival.”

Windsor said store managers estimated the property and equipment destroyed were worth $150,000. The 9,600-square-foot building, which is owned by Martin Smith & Associates of Oxnard, was estimated to be worth $350,000, he said.

Lou Hebert, manager of the store, said some of its 30 employees were moved to the Ventura store but the rest will be out of work indefinitely.

On Wednesday, investigators were delayed in searching for a cause as city building safety officers sought to determine whether the walls surrounding the gutted structure were structurally sound.

Late in the day, city officials declared the walls safe. Large support beams were propped against the building to provide additional stability.

Windsor said he walked through the building twice to decide how to begin removing the debris--portions of the roof, clothing and furniture--that was piled several feet deep.

“Our main problem is that we have the roof on the floor and we need to get that removed to see burn patterns,” he said.

So far, he said, nothing has been ruled out as a possible cause, including arson.

“Any fire we investigate has the potential of being an arson,” Windsor said. “We treat it as a suspicious fire with the possibility that it is an arson.”

Oxnard’s investigators will be assisted by a county fire investigator and possibly the Ventura County Arson Task Force, which is made up of inspectors from different agencies.

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“This is going to be a lengthy investigation just by the sheer size and amount of material we have to go through,” Windsor added.

The building that housed the thrift store was built in 1936 as a warehouse for a company that sold heavy equipment. In 1968, the building was made over into a grocery store called the Palm Market. Eleven years later it became a furniture store, and in 1983 the thrift store moved in.

Sergio Lopez, who works in a tire store next door, said he was talking with his girlfriend in the parking lot of nearby Watterson College Tuesday night when he heard a “pop and a crash.”

When he got within sight of the thrift store, he saw flames coming out the front.

“Every second it got bigger and bigger,” he said.