DEADLY OUTCOME—Police and fire officials are looking into a fire that started Tuesday morning inside a Ventu Estates mobile home. The owner of the home, 69-year-old Walter Salat, died later at the hospital from smoke inhalation. Courtesy photo
First responders and hospital staff were unable to save the life of a 69-year-old man pulled from a burning coach at a Newbury Park mobile home community early Tuesday morning.
Firefighters and sheriff’s deputies arriving at St. John Court inside Ventu Estates (near Ventu Park and Lynn roads) shortly before 2 am Aug. 10 found the small home engulfed in flames, police said. They entered and inside discovered Walter Salat on the floor of the den. Salat had suffered serious burns and smoke inhalation, according to a statement issued by the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office.
Paramedics performed CPR, and Salat was rushed to Los Robles Regional Medical Center for emergency treatment but eventually succumbed to his injuries, police said.
The cause of the fire is unknown, said Capt. Brian McGrath, VCFD spokesperson.
“We don’t have anything suspicious, but it’s still under investigation,” McGrath said.
A second investigation, this one by the sheriff’s department, is on hold while fire department investigators complete theirs. Should anything suspicious arise, the sheriff’s investigation will move forward, said Sgt. William Hutton of the sheriff’s major crimes and homicide bureau.
Anyone who may have information about the incident is asked to call Detective Javier Chavez of the sheriff’s major crimes division.