Fire causes extensive damage at vacant house in east Las Vegas

A fire at an unoccupied house near North Sloan Lane and Stewart Avenue early Tuesday morning caused extensive damage.

Investigators with Clark County Fire Department continued working at the house at 484 Searchlight Drive as of 6 a.m. Crews knocked the fire down earlier, Battalion Chief Leo Durkin III said. Much of the damage appeared to be to the garage, main living area and to a loft, he said.

The cause and point of origin wasn’t yet known as of 5:15 a.m., he said, but the house was filled with boxes, debris and belongings. He said it would likely qualify as a hoarder house.

“It’s going to make our work very difficult,” Durkin said.

Neighbors said the house had been vacant for several years, with Beverly Snow, 61, saying nobody had lived there for at least 16 years.

It’d mostly been used for storage, she said, until neighbors noticed squatters moved into the house about six months ago. Snow and other neighbors were concerned for a while it would catch fire.

“Every Fourth of July I’m afraid to go outside,” next-door neighbor Patricia Skeary said.

Skeary, 77, said she feared fireworks would set the next-door house ablaze and flames would spread to hers.

Tuesday morning, she said her “ballistic” dog woke her up. She went to the bathroom and saw the light from the flames on her bathroom door. She turned around and saw the flames out her window.

She scrambled for her phone to dial 911 before a neighbor came to her door and said he’d already done so.

Skeary was relieved the fire she feared would start next door did without damaging her own home.

“We knew this was going to happen,” Skeary said. “We just knew it.”

Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.