Well-Wishers Aid Family After Fire

Neighbors, co-workers and the Red Cross are rallying around a Thousand Oaks woman and her two children, who were made homeless last week when a fire destroyed the house they were renting and their two cars.

Family friend Leonard Zerlin said that Barbara Allen and her daughters, Brooke, 17, and Lisa, 13, need to rent a new home, replace furniture and buy a used car.

An early-morning fire Aug. 1 caused more than $115,000 damage to the Clarendon Place home that the family had lived in for two years, the contents and Brooke’s 1987 Nissan Sentra, Allen said.

Investigators said the blaze, which began in the garage, was caused by an electrical short, Allen said.

No injuries were reported.

Allen said she had no renter’s insurance or comprehensive coverage on the Nissan.

“I’m days away from [age] 47 and seconds away from 93,” she said.

The family, however, has not been without support.

The local Red Cross put them up in a local hotel for four days and gave them a $250 voucher for clothes.

On Saturday, several neighbors, in a door-to-door canvassing, raised $1,500 for necessities and to place what is left of the family’s belongings in storage, Zerlin said.

Allen said 23 employees at TCI-USA, a Los Angeles-based data networks company, pitched in $500, despite the fact that she joined the company as a global account manager only three weeks ago.

Since then, the family has stayed in the Simi Valley home of Zerlin’s daughter, Ellen, who has been vacationing in Europe.

When she returns Saturday, the Allens will move into a Thousand Oaks home of other family friends, who will be on vacation.

“It’s the best thing that’s happened--how wonderful they’ve been,” Allen said.

Contributions to the Allen Family Fire Fund may be sent to Los Robles Bank, 33 W. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91360.

Anyone with information on finding a reasonably priced two- or three-bedroom house or condominium in the northeast section of Thousand Oaks may call 494-8001.