Five small fires strike downtown Las Vegas

Las Vegas fire officials are investigating five fires that happened within minutes of each other Sunday morning near Las Vegas Boulevard South.

Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said investigators are searching for a link between the fires but have yet to find a common thread between them, other than the time frame and proximity of the fires.

It began with a dumpster fire at 5:23 a.m. behind a building at 1155 S. Fourth St. that was quickly extinguished, according to the Fire Department.

The next fire, also in a dumpster, was called in at 5:34 a.m. at the Gateway Motel, 928 Las Vegas Blvd. South, a block away from the previous fire.

A minute later, Las Vegas and Clark County firefighters responded to a third fire at the Oasis Motel, 1731 Las Vegas Blvd. South, where a palm tree, some grass and a vehicle were on fire.

At 5:44 a.m., both departments responded to a vehicle fire at the Stratosphere Hotel, 2000 Las Vegas Blvd. South, and at 5:51 a.m. the fifth fire was reported at a vacant one-story building at 2029 Paradise Road, one block east of the Stratosphere.

The fifth fire was the only one resulting in damage to a building, causing about $10,000 in damage. No injuries were reported in any of the fires.

Szymanski said it’s not uncommon to see multiple fires in a small area. Sometimes people are responsible, he said, but other times it’s just a coincidence.

“Once in a while we get lucky and catch people in the process,” he said. “There’s been many a night where we’ve seen a stretch of fires that ended up being a coincidence.”

Contact Max Michor at mmichor@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0381. Follow @MaxMichor on Twitter.