ARTISTS' STUDIOS DAMAGED IN BLAZE.

Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer

A three-alarm fire severely damaged a downtown artists colony Monday afternoon, causing no injuries but sending clouds of smoke seen for miles. Police said they detained three youngsters playing with matches in connection with the blaze.

Ventura city and county firefighters worked for more than three hours on the blaze at Art City as artists, some trying to extinguish the fire, watched the work space go up in smoke at a complex that had been damaged in a fire just over one week ago.

``I just lost an incredible place to work,'' said MB Hanrahan, a painter and sculptor with a studio at the complex. ``It's sad. But it's worse to stay attached to something that doesn't exist anymore.''

The blaze was reported just before 2 p.m. along Dubbers Street, a small industrial road with an art supplies facility and an auto salvage yard a few blocks from Main Street in downtown Ventura.

Witnesses said the fire jumped from a stack of debris to the back of the building and then to the roof. Officials said the fire eventually traveled to the next-door Roscoe Auto Salvage.

Officials had no estimate on the damage to the complex, but artists said about half of the complex not damaged in the previous fire was harmed Monday. Officials said about one-fourth of the auto yard burned.

Seven engines and two trucks worked to extinguish the blaze that sent billows of thick black smoke that witnesses said could be seen from miles away.

Three 14-year-old Ventura residents who were seen by witnesses running from the scene were detained a short while later, said Sgt. Jerry Thurston of the Ventura Police Department.

Thurston said the young people were believed to be playing with matches at the scene, accidentally sparking the fire.

The fire comes less than two weeks after a blaze at the artists colony that started when a leaking propane tank ignited with a heater, said Deputy Fire Marshal Bill Clark.

At least three studios burned during that blaze, artists said.