Massive Four-Alarm Fire Damages Several Buildings Downtown
It Is The Largest Fire In City For Past 25 Years
At least ten buildings were either damaged or destroyed in a massive fire in downtown Las Vegas early Sunday morning. Several vehicles were also destroyed, at least 100 people took refuge in an evacuation center located at a near-by school. There was only one minor injury reported during the incident. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
It was a Las Vegas Fire & Rescue crew returning to their station from a previous call that noticed a large column of smoke on East Charleston Boulevard. As they approached Eastern Avenue, they saw a large building under construction fully involved with fire at 200 Tower Street at 12:56 a.m. Sunday, June 19. The building on fire was inside a condominium complex off Fremont Street. The crew entered the condo complex and found the building fully involved. It was letting off extreme heat which threatened several near-by occupied condo buildings. The crew radioed for help and then starting waking residents and advised them to evacuate as quickly as possible. A NV Energy power pole was to the rear of the fully involved building and quickly caught fire. The pole failed bringing down several power lines which led to a large area of downtown to go dark. Thick, dense smoke started to fill the complex making visibility reduced and making it hard to breathe for residents who were trying to escape. A second alarm was immediately requested for additional crews. As the fire escalated due to brisk southwest winds, two more alarms were sounded which brought approximately 40 fire units with 140 fire personnel from Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Clark County to the scene.
The city of Las Vegas Office of Emergency Management and the American Red Cross opened an evacuation center at near-by Hollingsworth STEAM Academy at 1776 E. Ogden Avenue for residents to seek refuge at. Several other residents were also evacuated including a near-by motel and a studio apartment complex. At least 50-100 people took advantage of the center while firefighters worked to put the fire out.
By 6:00 a.m. the bulk of the fire was knocked down, but several flare-ups and hot spots remained. Firefighters are expected to be on site for most of the day.
One person reported minor smoke inhalation, was checked by paramedics and released.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
A complete assessment is needed to determine the exact number of buildings, condo units, businesses and vehicles that were damaged or destroyed by the fire. That will probably take until Tuesday because the incident is so large.
This is the largest number of occupied dwelling units involved with fire at the same time in the city of Las Vegas for the past 25 years. Other fires consisted of several homes under construction in the past, but they were not occupied. A number of people and at least one business will be impacted by this fire.
END ## LVFR/PEIO-TRS
E5,6,103,3,15,44,4,1,201,51,14,23,10,106,41,108, T6,1,61,18,52, R5,6,204,4,14, EMS1, AR1,52, B1,4,10,5,2,116, C2, LV2, PIO1, 6i4,8,9 Incident: 2253992 Ward: 3
|
