Investigation into massive apartment complex fire got boost from feds

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives assisted in the investigation into a massive fire that destroyed an apartment building under construction in the southwest Las Vegas Valley in June.

“Yes we did bring the ATF in to assist us with the investigation,” John C. Steinbeck, chief of the Clark County Fire Department, said in an email Monday.

The huge June 20 blaze at 8030 Maule Avenue, near the 215 Beltway and South Buffalo Drive in southwest Las Vegas, produced flames that could be seen for miles and a smoke plume that could be seen across the valley.

Nobody was killed or injured in the inferno, which burned for four days and was finally extinguished at 5 p.m. on June 24, Steinbeck said.

Steinbeck said that a press conference about the fire would be held next week, but he did not say what the press conference would address specifically.

The cause of the fire was still unknown, the fire chief said on Monday.

“At this time the cause is still undetermined and while we have several working theories, we do not expect that status to change,” Steinbeck said.

Alexandria Corneiro, the public information officer for the ATF’s San Francisco Field Division, which handles Northern California and Nevada, confirmed the ATF provided assistance, and that the fire was still under investigation.

Corneiro said the Clark County Fire Department was still the lead agency and that any information about the investigation would have to come from them.

Asked whether the agency is asked to help when a fire seems suspicious, Corneiro indicated that’s not the case.

“An investigation would have to be conducted to determine if a fire was incendiary, accidental or undetermined,” Corneiro said in a text message. “Those are the only determinations we make and we don’t assume prior to investigating that a fire is already one of the three.”

Corneiro said it is “not out of the norm” for the ATF to offer its help in fire investigations.

The ATF also investigated a fire that engulfed another southwest Las Vegas Valley apartment building under construction in 2021 and determined that blaze to have been caused by arson.

That fire, which started just before midnight on Jan. 18, 2021, destroyed the Ely at Fort Apache apartment complex at 5055 South Fort Apache Drive, near the 215 Beltway and Tropicana Avenue.

The fire caused an estimated $35 million in damage, according to the ATF, which then announced it was offering $10,000 for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever was responsible for starting the fire. The complex was then rebuilt.

Contact Brett Clarkson at bclarkson@reviewjournal.com.