5 hurt in central Las Vegas apartment fire

At least five people were injured in an apartment fire in the central Las Vegas Valley on Tuesday afternoon that took roughly 100 firefighters to contain.

The Clark County Fire Department received multiple calls at 11:14 a.m. reporting a fire at an apartment complex at 5050 Tamarus Street, near the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Spencer Street, Deputy Chief Kenny Holding told reporters at a briefing outside the complex. Crews were on the scene within about five minutes, Holding said.

One apartment was engulfed in flames when crews arrived, and high winds in the area helped the blaze spread to a neighboring building, according to Holding. With high winds, which according to the National Weather Service reached 16 mph on Tuesday, officials escalated the blaze from a two-alarm to a three-alarm fire and additional units were called.

A county spokesperson said later Tuesday that five people were sent to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, and three others were treated at the scene and released. A Clark County firefighter was also taken to the University Medical Center for heat exhaustion.

Several animals were also taken from the impacted units but their status was unclear, according to Holding.

Officials said 32 units inside the impacted buildings were impacted by the fire, displacing about 40 people, and that responders were working with building managers and the American Red Cross to find those tenants alternative housing.

The number of units damaged and monetary damages have not yet been determined. Neither building had sprinklers, and Holding said that some units may have sustained water damage from the response by crews.

Holding did not say how the fire started or what caused it. Reno Avenue remained closed from Spencer to Tamarus while crews investigated. At least nine fire engines, including one from the Las Vegas Fire Department, and six ambulances responded to the scene, according to the release.

“The crews actually did a fantastic job getting a hold of this fire quickly and extinguishing it,” Holding said. “The problem is, that it affects the power, so we had to shut down the power to both buildings to ensure that a resulting fire doesn’t happen because of the exposed electrical doesn’t happen again. So I would say that more than half of the units were saved and unaffected, but just aren’t going to have power.”

Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Casey_Harrison1 on X or @casey-harrison.bsky.social on Bluesky.