Fire Guts Interior of Mobile Home

A fast-burning fire gutted a mobile home Tuesday afternoon, killing the owner’s two pet birds and causing $20,000 in damage to the home and its contents, the Ventura County Fire Department said.

Rosemary Harper had just left her home at 12:20 p.m. to have her car repaired when the fire broke through the roof of the home on Don Antonio Way, neighbors said.

Eighteen firefighters took 20 minutes to put out the blaze, which was started by smoking materials, a Fire Department dispatcher said.

Although the outside walls of the unit were still standing, the inside was destroyed, neighbors said. The American Red Cross came to Harper’s aid, and several residents of the mobile home park offered her a place to stay, neighbors said.