Victim of Las Vegas house fire blamed on ‘careless smoking’ identified
A woman found dead after a fatal house fire Wednesday afternoon in the west Las Vegas Valley has been identified.
Noel Cohen, 51, died in the blaze, according to the Clark County coroner’s office. Her cause and manner of death has not been released.
Firefighters think careless smoking may have started the fire at 9321 Sienna Ridge Drive, near Fort Apache Road and Charleston Boulevard, Las Vegas Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said in a release. Szymanski said “smoking materials” were found in the rear bedroom of the home.
Neighbors reported the fire just after 3 p.m., Szymanski said. They tried knocking on the door but no one answered.
Firefighters found that the back patio door was blackened from smoke. They broke through it and entered the rear bedroom where they found an overstuffed chair and a mattress on fire.
They continued searching the home and found Cohen’s body in the hallway just outside the bedroom door, Szymanski said. They also found a dead pet dog inside the home.
Two other family members were not at home when the fire started, Szymanski said. Both were displaced.
Cohen’s death marks the fourth fatal fire the Fire Department has investigated this year. Szymanski said careless smoking is the most common cause of fire-related deaths in Las Vegas.
Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0365. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter. Review-Journal staff writer Mike Shoro contributed to this report.
