Family members mourn woman found dead in Las Vegas fire

Battling smoke and intense heat, Robert Fry did all he could to rescue a Las Vegas woman from a central valley residential fire on Saturday.

“I opened the door and crawled into the bedroom,” Fry said. “I couldn’t get any farther. It was too hot.”

That’s when firefighters, Fry said, pulled him out of the burning unit in building 9 at the Casa Vegas Condos on East Vegas Valley Drive, near Maryland Parkway and East Karen Avenue in Las Vegas.

Fire crews responded at about 7 p.m. to reports of an apartment fire at 1405 E. Vegas Valley Drive and “discovered a two-story apartment building with fire coming from a second-floor unit,” Clark County Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Danny Horvat said in an email. Horvat said a person was found dead.

Metropolitan Police Department Lt. Sam Bonner said in a Saturday text message an elderly female was found dead in a second-floor unit.

Near the scene Saturday night, Tammy Chandler identified the woman as 84-year-old Vivian Chandler, her mother. Several hours after firefighters put the blaze out, Chandler and other members of her family remained outside the building.

“I don’t know what happened,” Chandler said. “I have no clue whatsoever. All I know is she’s dead. I don’t have money to pay for a funeral … I have nothing.”

Fry said he’s a former resident at Casa Vegas. He was visiting a friend in the complex and was just leaving when he heard people yelling about a fire.

He said Tammy Chandler, who had just gotten off a city bus in the area and had arrived at the complex on foot, gave him the keys to the unit. He said he didn’t fear for his own safety after making the decision to go inside the burning condo.

“I’m 70 years old,” Fry said. “What do I have to lose?”

Jacynta James, 50, who lives at the complex, said she and others saw Vivian Chandler being taken out of the unit in a body bag after the fire was put out.

“I can’t imagine losing your mother like that,” James said. “We’re all like a big family here.”

The Clark County Fire Department responded with six fire engines and a number of other vehicles, Horvat said in the email. More than three dozen firefighters responded to the scene, he said.

Bonner said arson investigators with the fire department were also at the scene.

At the scene several hours after the fire broke out, firefighters could be seen taking photos inside the unit. A burned mattress could also be seen.

No other injuries were reported. The cause of the fire, according to Horvat, was still being investigated as of late Saturday night. The Las Vegas Fire Department assisted at the scene.

Contact Bryan Horwath at bhorwath@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BryanHorwath on X.