Rancher Chris Taylor received second and third degree burns to one leg early Monday when outbuildings at his Richardson Canyon home – spared during the major wave of Sunday’s fire but surrounded by damage - ignited and he attempted to save what he could from the blaze.According to Virginia Gunderson, a cousin of Taylor’s, his home was “severely threatened by fire Sunday but with the efforts of two fire trucks and crews it was saved. . .then smoldering embers apparently started an outbuilding on fire during the night which spread to the garage burning everything but the Jeep,” Taylor was attempting to move when he received “some pretty nasty burns,” said Gunderson.Gunderson noted that her family first came to Santa Paula in 1867 and built their home on South Mountain, known as the “First House in Santa Paula. . .two more generations were burn into that house on that location until it was sold to Pearl and Todd Vaughn in the late 1940s.”The Vaughns tore down the original home and built another that burned to the ground on Sunday. The owner of the house, Janet Bratton, was not injured and able to escape although she lost all her possessions.
Firestorm: Home on the site of 1st House in SP lost, rancher injured
October 31, 2003
Santa Paula News
The site of the “First House in Santa Paula,” built in 1867 and replaced with another home in the late 1940s, was destroyed Sunday and an area rancher injured Monday in separate incidents due to the wild fire that roared down South Mountain.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesThe site of the “First House in Santa Paula,” built in 1867 and replaced with another home in the late 1940s, was destroyed Sunday and an area rancher injured Monday in separate incidents due to the wild fire that roared down South Mountain.The blaze, part of the Simi Fire that peeked over South Mountain several times before rushing down in a wall of flame, was just one of two fires in the Santa Clara River Valley. The Piru Fire, stopped Sunday at Goodenough Road, finally jumped over Sespe Creek and is now burning to the north while the Simi Fire has moved into the San Fernando Valley.The Ventura County Fire Department and other fire officials have been so busy with the multiple fires that they have not yet been able to prepare an exact list of damage, according to VCFD PIO Joe Luna.
