1 hospitalized, 8 homeless after apartment fire near UNLV
A person was rescued from an apartment fire in south-central Las Vegas Valley early Wednesday morning.
Eight people were displaced and three were injured in the fire at Ashton Park Apartments, 4441 Escondido St.
The Clark County Fire Department received multiple calls about a fire at the complex near East Flamingo Road and South Maryland Parkway about 1:50 a.m., Battalion Chief Eric Poleski said.
He said arriving units found a first-floor unit in one of the buildings was “heavily involved in fire.” The apartment was evacuated, but a person was trapped in a unit on the second floor. Crews had to perform a ladder rescue to the person from the apartment.
“They could not go out of their front door because of the heavy amount of fire coming from the first floor,” Poleski said.
He said one of the three injured was taken to University Medical Center with “pretty serious smoke inhalation” and second-degree burns. The other two didn’t need hospitalization.
Crews attacked offensively and knocked down the flames in about five minutes. The fire didn’t extend to other units but three others had some heavy smoke and heat damage, he said.
Damage was estimated at $100,000.
Poleski said residents broke their windows in what they thought was an attempt to help the Fire Department. He advised residents against doing so during fires, adding the fire worsened as a result of broken windows.
“It provides unlimited oxygen to the fire, and typically severely intensifies the fire situation,” he said.
“We know they want to help, we know they want to get involved, but please don’t break out windows in a building that’s on fire.”
A resident, Kayla Bowen, said neighbors were knocking on each other’s doors as the building filled with smoke. She said her wife woke her up and within a minute, her entire unit had filled with smoke.
She was able to get out all of her pets except for a cat, Noah. She searched for Noah but couldn’t find him.
“I’m just worried about my cat,” she said.
Contact Mike Shoro at mshoro@reviewjournal.com. Follow @mike_shoro on Twitter.
