Blaze at Home of Black Family Tied to Cigarette

A smoldering cigarette, not a firebomb, started the blaze that burned a black family out of its Oak View home two weeks ago, Ventura County investigators concluded Monday.

After an intensive probe that involved a trained dog sniffing for fuel, firefighters sifting through ashes and researchers analyzing shards of window glass, fire and police officials said they found no evidence of arson.

Family members say they still believe the fire was a race-provoked hate crime started by an incendiary device thrown through their front window.

But a team of firefighters and police officers said they could not support that theory.

“There was nothing to indicate that it was flammable liquid” that caused the fire, said Sandi Wells, spokeswoman for the Ventura County Fire Department.

The June 7 fire caused $150,000 in damage and left 13-year-old Shuwana Stanford with first- and second-degree burns on her face. Six months before the fire, Shuwana had withdrawn from Matilija Junior High School after being the target of racial taunts.

“They can say what they want,” Winnie Stanford, Shuwana’s grandmother, said of the firefighters’ report. “All I know is she doesn’t smoke.”