SIMI VALLEY : Sprinklers Dampen Restaurant Arson
- Share via
Fire sprinklers foiled two attempts by an arsonist Friday to burn down a Simi Valley restaurant that has been vacant since the Jan. 17 Northridge earthquake.
Someone smashed a window at Tony Roma’s A Place for Ribs, reached through to open a locked door, then lit separate fires in the downstairs bar and upstairs banquet room, said Capt. Keith Mashburn of the Ventura County Fire Department.
A California Highway Patrol officer driving past the restaurant on the Simi Valley Freeway saw the smoke and called the Fire Department just before 4 p.m. Friday, Mashburn said.
Within four minutes, firefighters arrived and began dousing flames in the smoke-filled building, he said. A second alarm was called 18 minutes later, putting a total of about 30 firefighters inside the restaurant to finish the job.
“It appears the sprinklers held the fire so we could get to it and put it out,” he said.
County arson investigators are still looking into the exact cause of the fires, he said.
Sign up for Essential California
The most important California stories and recommendations in your inbox every morning.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
