ARSON REMAINS POSSIBILITY IN T.O. HOME FIRE.

Byline: Kevin F. Sherry Daily News Staff Writer

Fire investigators continued sifting through the rubble of a two-story home Wednesday that was destroyed by a fast-burning blaze Monday.

Joe Luna, information officer for the Ventura County Fire Department, said that no explanations have been ruled out.

``It was suspicious in nature. We're not ruling out arson,'' Luna said.

The investigation could be a long and tedious one, he said. If successful, it will reveal what caused the fire, if people were involved and who was responsible, Luna said.

The fire in the 900 block of Evenstar Avenue caused $650,000 damage to the home and its contents, officials said. Neither helicopter pilot Charles Aaron, 50, nor his 18-year-old son, Chuck, was home at the time.

The house's owner, Ta-Ling Chen, said she spoke with Charles Aaron on Wednesday, but he could not think of anyone he would call an enemy, Chen said. Despite that, the fire appeared to be intentionally set, Chen said.

``He said he was told it was pretty much for sure it was arson,'' she said. ``It looked like it was set from inside the home.''

Investigators listed the fire as suspicious because it burned so quickly through the home, which the Aarons had been renting since February. Firefighters arrived just six minutes after the initial 911 call, but found the home already engulfed in flames.

The Aarons did not have insurance.

Chen said Aaron left a rear sliding door open because he believed he lived in a safe neighborhood.

``Monday, when they both left, the house . . . door was open,'' she said.

Aaron salvaged a few photographs, some coins and his mother's diary from the ashes, Chen said.

To find the point of origin of a fire, investigators start in the area that received the least amount of damage and work backward, Luna said. They measure the depth of charring and note burn patterns to help determine direction and intensity of a fire.

``It's a very systematic approach,'' he said. ``It is a science.''

Because fire investigators could be called into court to support their conclusions, ``they have to be by the book,'' Luna said.

On Monday, investigators brought dogs to the home to sniff for accelerants like gasoline or turpentine, but whether anything was found was not being released, he said.

A witness who was one of the first on the scene said Monday that she noticed a natural-gas smell coming from the home.

Joined by investigators from the Ventura County Sheriff's and Los Angeles County Fire departments, Ventura County fire officials conducted a series of interviews, Luna said. Typically, investigators interview the residents and owners, witnesses and neighbors, as well as firefighters who arrive at the scene first.

They also try to determine whether the occupants had any enemies, because fires can be set for a variety of reasons, he said.

``All that information gives them a mosaic that they'll piece together,'' Luna said. ``They'll start to assemble the pattern of what could have been the cause here.''