Man dies in third fire in six months at apartment complex

Bernard Drake walked out of his apartment Saturday afternoon and spotted smoke coming from his neighbor's place.

Then he heard the fire alarm.

Drake opened the door to see his friend, Eric Olsen, 55, on fire, his hand clutching a burning cigarette.

"His hair was on fire," Drake said about two hours after the blaze was extinguished. "I couldn't get his fire extinguisher to work, so I had to get mine. I saw him on fire. His TV was on. He wasn't yelling. He wasn't doing nothing. He was rocking a little bit in his chair, holding a cigarette."

Drake said Olsen died.

"He didn't deserve to go like that," Drake said, wiping away tears.

About 60 firefighters from Clark County and Las Vegas responded to the fire about 1 p.m. at the Alpine Village Apartments, on Brush Street west of Decatur Boulevard and north of Charleston Boulevard, city Fire Department spokesman Tim Szymanski said. The fire, which was put out in about 20 minutes, caused about $200,000 in damage to the 16-unit building. The cause was not immediately known.

A woman who suffered from smoke inhalation from the fire was treated and released. A Las Vegas firefighter, one of the first to respond, was taken to a hospital and treated for unspecified injuries, Szymanski said. Authorities did not release the names of the victims.

It was the third two-alarm fire in the complex in the past six months, he said. The category of fire indicates the level of response by authorities, with a higher number of alarms meaning more resources are committed.

Volunteers from the American Red Cross helped 26 displaced residents to make sure they had food, clothing, medication, a place to sleep and other essentials. Twenty-two of the residents helped are adults, and four are children.

Over the next few days, volunteers will stay in contact with the families to help them get back on their feet.

Drake, the neighbor, stood in a walkway and watched as firefighters moved orange hoses around a sooty, charred staircase.

Las Vegas police and the Clark County coroner's office investigated, as firefighters assessed the damage. Still crying, Drake puffed on a cigarette. He cracked open a beer and poured a little out.

"This is for Eric," he said, still unable to wrap his mind around what he had witnessed a few hours before.

Another one of Olsen's friends, Cathy Faulkner, consoled Drake, telling him, "You did all you could. We all did."

She stood there for two hours watching investigators and waiting for what she called "closure."

Faulkner said her family knew Olsen for four years and would buy him groceries, though he rarely ate or left his apartment.

The retired construction worker had medical problems, which included seizures, she added.

Faulkner brought Olsen a plate of spaghetti two days before Thanksgiving. Sometimes she or her husband would chat and have a beer with Olsen in his apartment. At times, he would go over to their place.

Olsen was the only person Faulkner's Chihuahua would not bark at.

"He was such a good guy," Faulkner said. "He was my friend. It makes me sad. He just sat up there all the time. He'd always say, 'I don't have anybody.' And we'd tell him he had us."

Faulkner said Olsen always gave of himself.

"He was on a fixed income, and he would help us if we needed gas in the car," she said. "He was always there."

Contact reporter Kristi Jourdan at
kjourdan@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0440.