1 dead, 4 hospitalized after fire guts apartment in central Las Vegas
One person is dead and four are in the hospital after a fire broke out at a family’s central valley apartment Thursday morning.
The Las Vegas Fire Department responded to a call of a fire with two females trapped inside about 12:45 a.m., department spokesman Tim Szymanski said. Arriving firefighters observed heavy flames shooting out of an apartment window at 833 W. Lake Mead Blvd., near H Street.
A man was found on the ground in front of the apartment badly burned and suffering from smoke inhalation, Szymanski said.
Firefighters had to make a forceful entry into the smoke- and flame-filled unit because the front door was locked. They found a woman dead on the floor in front of a couch, the department said.
A little girl was found lying on the floor in a hallway.
“The girl was lifeless and firefighters immediately took her outside and attempted to revive her,” Szymanski said in a statement.
The man and the little girl were taken to University Medical Center and admitted for critical burns and smoke inhalation.
Two teenage girls escaped the unit from a back window. One was treated at the medical center for a laceration that she received from breaking the window to escape. Both were treated for smoke inhalation, according to the Fire Department.
The ages of the five people involved are unknown.
Nine people were displaced by the fire and are receiving assistance from American Red Cross — four from the apartment with the fire and five from a neighboring apartment.
Investigators believe the fire started in the living room, but the fire’s cause is still under investigation. Damage to the unit was estimated at $35,000.
The woman’s identity and cause and manner of death will be released by the Clark County coroner. If ruled a fire fatality, it would be the first one in Las Vegas for 2017. In 2016 there were two fatal fires in the city.
Review-Journal writer Mike Shoro contributed to this story. Contact Lawren Linehan at llinehan@reviewjournal.com or at 702-383-0381. Follow @lawrenlinehan on Twitter.
