IN BRIEF

MOUNT CHARLESTON BLAZES

Air quality safe despite fires, officials say

Small fires in the Mount Charleston area will increase fine smoke or dust particles in the valley in the coming days, but air quality officials say it will remain at safe levels.

The fires smoldering near the mountain reduced visibility Tuesday and might do so again today, but Clark County's Department of Air Quality and Environmental Management said the levels are not harmful.

VEHICLE ROLLOVER

Kingman man killed in crash is identified

A Kingman, Ariz., man killed in a traffic accident Monday in northwest Arizona was identified Tuesday as Robert Pernal.

Pernal, 48, was dead at the scene of the 2:21 a.m. crash about 22 miles north of Kingman on Stockton Hill Road. Officials said he was traveling north at a high rate of speed when he lost control of his 2003 Toyota pickup. It rolled, and he was ejected.

TWO I-15 FATALITIES

Wrong-way driver was Henderson man, 25

A man who drove the wrong way on Interstate 15 and caused a head-on collision Sept. 24, killing himself and another driver, has been identified by the Clark County coroner's office as Shane Anthony Hatter.

The 25-year-old Henderson man was driving north in a southbound lane between St. Rose Parkway and Silverado Ranch Boulevard about 3:40 a.m. when the crash occurred.

He collided with a vehicle driven by 76-year-old Alley Hassen of Alberta, Canada.

Both men died of multiple injuries related to the crash.

JONES AND GRAND TETON

Natural gas to flow as part of maintenance

Officials with Southwest Gas Corp. said the company will release natural gas between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m. today near Jones Boulevard and Grand Teton Drive.

Company officials said the gas release is part of a routine procedure that allows crews to do pipeline maintenance.

As a result, officials said, residents might hear a noise like a jet engine and notice a smell similar to rotten eggs.

For more information, call 365-2040.

VEHICLE FIRE

60 students safely evacuated from bus

Sixty students from the Advanced Technologies Academy were safely evacuated from a bus that caught fire Tuesday afternoon, a spokesman with the Las Vegas Fire Department said.

The incident occurred about 5:10 p.m., near Martin Luther King Boulevard and Owens Avenue, said fire department spokesman Tim Szymanski.

Szymanski said a hazardous materials unit was called to the fire to contain leaking diesel fuel.